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“Only buy something that you’d be perfectly happy to hold if the market shut down for 10 years.”

— Warren Buffett

The above quote from Warren Buffett is timeless, and brings into focus the choice about time horizon that any investor should think about before buying a stock they are considering. Behind every stock is an actual business; what will that business look like over a decade-long period?

Today, let’s look backwards in time to 2009, and take a look at what happened to investors who asked that very question about SBA Communications Corp (NASD: SBAC), by taking a look at the investment outcome over a decade-long holding period.

Start date: 06/26/2009
$10,000

06/26/2009
$91,561

06/25/2019
End date: 06/25/2019
Start price/share: $24.93
End price/share: $228.33
Starting shares: 401.12
Ending shares: 401.12
Dividends reinvested/share: $0.00
Total return: 815.88%
Average annual return: 24.78%
Starting investment: $10,000.00
Ending investment: $91,561.57

As shown above, the decade-long investment result worked out exceptionally well, with an annualized rate of return of 24.78%. This would have turned a $10K investment made 10 years ago into $91,561.57 today (as of 06/25/2019). On a total return basis, that’s a result of 815.88% (something to think about: how might SBAC shares perform over the next 10 years?). [These numbers were computed with the Dividend Channel DRIP Returns Calculator.]

Another great investment quote to think about:
“In the long run, it’s not just how much money you make that will determine your future prosperity. It’s how much of that money you put to work by saving it and investing it.” — Peter Lynch