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

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

11/10/2014
$9,616

11/07/2019
End date: 11/07/2019
Start price/share: $32.26
End price/share: $31.03
Starting shares: 309.98
Ending shares: 309.98
Dividends reinvested/share: $0.00
Total return: -3.81%
Average annual return: -0.78%
Starting investment: $10,000.00
Ending investment: $9,616.45

As shown above, the five year investment result worked out poorly, with an annualized rate of return of -0.78%. This would have turned a $10K investment made 5 years ago into $9,616.45 today (as of 11/07/2019). On a total return basis, that’s a result of -3.81% (something to think about: how might DISCA 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:
“The right time for a company to finance its growth is not when it needs capital, but rather when the market is most receptive to providing capital.” — Michael Milken