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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 Autodesk Inc (NASD: ADSK)? Today, we examine the outcome of a five year investment into the stock back in 2014.

Start date: 06/11/2014
$10,000

06/11/2014
$30,529

06/10/2019
End date: 06/10/2019
Start price/share: $54.09
End price/share: $165.12
Starting shares: 184.88
Ending shares: 184.88
Dividends reinvested/share: $0.00
Total return: 205.27%
Average annual return: 25.01%
Starting investment: $10,000.00
Ending investment: $30,529.79

As shown above, the five year investment result worked out exceptionally well, with an annualized rate of return of 25.01%. This would have turned a $10K investment made 5 years ago into $30,529.79 today (as of 06/10/2019). On a total return basis, that’s a result of 205.27% (something to think about: how might ADSK shares perform over the next 5 years?). [These numbers were computed with the Dividend Channel DRIP Returns Calculator.]

One more piece of investment wisdom to leave you with:
“Sometimes buying early on the way down looks like being wrong, but it isn’t.” — Seth Klarman