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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 DaVita Inc (NYSE: DVA)? Today, we examine the outcome of a five year investment into the stock back in 2014.

Start date: 09/04/2014
$10,000

09/04/2014
$7,897

09/03/2019
End date: 09/03/2019
Start price/share: $74.12
End price/share: $58.54
Starting shares: 134.92
Ending shares: 134.92
Dividends reinvested/share: $0.00
Total return: -21.02%
Average annual return: -4.61%
Starting investment: $10,000.00
Ending investment: $7,897.95

As we can see, the five year investment result worked out poorly, with an annualized rate of return of -4.61%. This would have turned a $10K investment made 5 years ago into $7,897.95 today (as of 09/03/2019). On a total return basis, that’s a result of -21.02% (something to think about: how might DVA 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:
“The best stock to buy is the one you already own.” — Peter Lynch