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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 Dish Network Corporation – Class A (NASD: DISH)? Today, we examine the outcome of a five year investment into the stock back in 2014.

Start date: 09/29/2014
$10,000

09/29/2014
$5,230

09/26/2019
End date: 09/26/2019
Start price/share: $65.01
End price/share: $34.00
Starting shares: 153.82
Ending shares: 153.82
Dividends reinvested/share: $0.00
Total return: -47.70%
Average annual return: -12.17%
Starting investment: $10,000.00
Ending investment: $5,230.26

As shown above, the five year investment result worked out poorly, with an annualized rate of return of -12.17%. This would have turned a $10K investment made 5 years ago into $5,230.26 today (as of 09/26/2019). On a total return basis, that’s a result of -47.70% (something to think about: how might DISH 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:
“Smart investing doesn’t consist of buying good assets but of buying assets well. This is a very, very important distinction that very, very few people understand.” — Howard Marks