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“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 Synopsys Inc (NASD: SNPS) back in 2009, holding through to today.

Start date: 12/07/2009
$10,000

12/07/2009
$62,852

12/05/2019
End date: 12/05/2019
Start price/share: $20.98
End price/share: $131.88
Starting shares: 476.64
Ending shares: 476.64
Dividends reinvested/share: $0.00
Total return: 528.60%
Average annual return: 20.18%
Starting investment: $10,000.00
Ending investment: $62,852.42

The above analysis shows the decade-long investment result worked out exceptionally well, with an annualized rate of return of 20.18%. This would have turned a $10K investment made 10 years ago into $62,852.42 today (as of 12/05/2019). On a total return basis, that’s a result of 528.60% (something to think about: how might SNPS shares perform over the next 10 years?). [These numbers were computed with the Dividend Channel DRIP Returns Calculator.]

More investment wisdom to ponder:
“The individual investor should act consistently as an investor and not as a speculator. This means that he should be able to justify every purchase he makes and each price he pays by impersonal, objective reasoning that satisfies him that he is getting more than his money’s worth for his purchase.” — Benjamin Graham