“Only buy something that you’d be perfectly happy to hold if the market shut down for 10 years.”
— Warren Buffett
The investment philosophy practiced by Warren Buffett calls for investors to take a long-term horizon when making an investment, such as a decade-long holding period (or even longer), and reconsider making the investment in the first place if unable to envision holding the stock for at least five years. Today, we look at how such a long-term strategy would have done for investors in Intuitive Surgical Inc (NASD: ISRG) back in 2009, holding through to today.
| Start date: | 11/13/2009 |
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| End date: | 11/12/2019 | ||||
| Start price/share: | $91.51 | ||||
| End price/share: | $549.36 | ||||
| Starting shares: | 109.28 | ||||
| Ending shares: | 109.28 | ||||
| Dividends reinvested/share: | $0.00 | ||||
| Total return: | 500.33% | ||||
| Average annual return: | 19.62% | ||||
| Starting investment: | $10,000.00 | ||||
| Ending investment: | $60,013.80 | ||||
As shown above, the decade-long investment result worked out exceptionally well, with an annualized rate of return of 19.62%. This would have turned a $10K investment made 10 years ago into $60,013.80 today (as of 11/12/2019). On a total return basis, that’s a result of 500.33% (something to think about: how might ISRG shares perform over the next 10 years?). [These numbers were computed with the Dividend Channel DRIP Returns Calculator.]
Another great investment quote to think about:
“Investors should always keep in mind that the most important metric is not the returns achieved but the returns weighed against the risks incurred. Ultimately, nothing should be more important to investors than the ability to sleep soundly at night.” — Seth Klarman
