“When we own portions of outstanding businesses with outstanding managements, our favorite holding period is forever.”
— Warren Buffett
Investors can learn a lot from Warren Buffett, whose above quote teaches the importance of thinking about investment time horizon, and asking ourselves before buying any given stock: can we envision holding onto it for years — even a two-decade holding period possibly?
Suppose a “buy-and-hold” investor was considering an investment into Mettler-Toledo International, Inc. (NYSE: MTD) back in 1999: back then, such an investor may have been pondering this very same question. Had they answered “yes” to a full two-decade investment time horizon and then actually held for these past 20 years, here’s how that investment would have turned out.
| Start date: | 12/20/1999 |
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| End date: | 12/19/2019 | ||||
| Start price/share: | $36.38 | ||||
| End price/share: | $786.59 | ||||
| Starting shares: | 274.91 | ||||
| Ending shares: | 274.91 | ||||
| Dividends reinvested/share: | $0.00 | ||||
| Total return: | 2,062.45% | ||||
| Average annual return: | 16.60% | ||||
| Starting investment: | $10,000.00 | ||||
| Ending investment: | $216,123.48 | ||||
As we can see, the two-decade investment result worked out exceptionally well, with an annualized rate of return of 16.60%. This would have turned a $10K investment made 20 years ago into $216,123.48 today (as of 12/19/2019). On a total return basis, that’s a result of 2,062.45% (something to think about: how might MTD shares perform over the next 20 years?). [These numbers were computed with the Dividend Channel DRIP Returns Calculator.]
One more piece of investment wisdom to leave you with:
“If you can follow only one bit of data, follow the earnings.” — Peter Lynch
