“Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.”
— 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 twenty year holding period possibly?
Suppose a “buy-and-hold” investor was considering an investment into Copart Inc (NASD: CPRT) back in 1999: back then, such an investor may have been pondering this very same question. Had they answered “yes” to a full twenty year investment time horizon and then actually held for these past 20 years, here’s how that investment would have turned out.
| Start date: | 12/09/1999 |
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| End date: | 12/06/2019 | ||||
| Start price/share: | $2.25 | ||||
| End price/share: | $88.58 | ||||
| Starting shares: | 4,444.44 | ||||
| Ending shares: | 4,444.44 | ||||
| Dividends reinvested/share: | $0.00 | ||||
| Total return: | 3,836.89% | ||||
| Average annual return: | 20.15% | ||||
| Starting investment: | $10,000.00 | ||||
| Ending investment: | $393,470.65 | ||||
As shown above, the twenty year investment result worked out exceptionally well, with an annualized rate of return of 20.15%. This would have turned a $10K investment made 20 years ago into $393,470.65 today (as of 12/06/2019). On a total return basis, that’s a result of 3,836.89% (something to think about: how might CPRT shares perform over the next 20 years?). [These numbers were computed with the Dividend Channel DRIP Returns Calculator.]
More investment wisdom to ponder:
“To achieve satisfactory investment results is easier than most people realize; to achieve superior results is harder than it looks.” — Benjamin Graham
