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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 Mylan NV (NASD: MYL)? Today, we examine the outcome of a five year investment into the stock back in 2014.

Start date: 09/15/2014
$10,000

09/15/2014
$4,757

09/12/2019
End date: 09/12/2019
Start price/share: $46.75
End price/share: $22.24
Starting shares: 213.90
Ending shares: 213.90
Dividends reinvested/share: $0.00
Total return: -52.43%
Average annual return: -13.82%
Starting investment: $10,000.00
Ending investment: $4,757.58

As we can see, the five year investment result worked out poorly, with an annualized rate of return of -13.82%. This would have turned a $10K investment made 5 years ago into $4,757.58 today (as of 09/12/2019). On a total return basis, that’s a result of -52.43% (something to think about: how might MYL 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:
“Successful investing is anticipating the anticipations of others.” — John Maynard Keynes