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“I buy on the assumption that they could close the market the next day and not reopen it for five years.”

— Warren Buffett

The Warren Buffett investment philosophy calls for a long-term investment horizon, where a five year holding period, or even longer, would fit right into the strategy. How would such a strategy have worked out for an investment into LKQ Corp (NASD: LKQ)? Today, we examine the outcome of a five year investment into the stock back in 2014.

Start date: 05/01/2014
$10,000

05/01/2014
$10,334

04/30/2019
End date: 04/30/2019
Start price/share: $29.12
End price/share: $30.10
Starting shares: 343.41
Ending shares: 343.41
Dividends reinvested/share: $0.00
Total return: 3.37%
Average annual return: 0.66%
Starting investment: $10,000.00
Ending investment: $10,334.38

As we can see, the five year investment result worked out as follows, with an annualized rate of return of 0.66%. This would have turned a $10K investment made 5 years ago into $10,334.38 today (as of 04/30/2019). On a total return basis, that’s a result of 3.37% (something to think about: how might LKQ shares perform over the next 5 years?). [These numbers were computed with the Dividend Channel DRIP Returns Calculator.]

Here’s one more great investment quote before you go:
“I made my money by selling too soon.” — Bernard Baruch