“Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.”
— Warren Buffett
The Warren Buffett investment philosophy calls for a long-term investment horizon, where a two-decade holding period, or even longer, would fit right into the strategy. How would such a strategy have worked out for an investment into F5 Networks, Inc. (NASD: FFIV)? Today, we examine the outcome of a two-decade investment into the stock back in 2000.
| Start date: | 01/18/2000 |
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| End date: | 01/14/2020 | ||||
| Start price/share: | $56.44 | ||||
| End price/share: | $136.10 | ||||
| Starting shares: | 177.18 | ||||
| Ending shares: | 177.18 | ||||
| Dividends reinvested/share: | $0.00 | ||||
| Total return: | 141.14% | ||||
| Average annual return: | 4.50% | ||||
| Starting investment: | $10,000.00 | ||||
| Ending investment: | $24,120.05 | ||||
As shown above, the two-decade investment result worked out as follows, with an annualized rate of return of 4.50%. This would have turned a $10K investment made 20 years ago into $24,120.05 today (as of 01/14/2020). On a total return basis, that’s a result of 141.14% (something to think about: how might FFIV shares perform over the next 20 years?). [These numbers were computed with the Dividend Channel DRIP Returns Calculator.]
One more investment quote to leave you with:
“Based on my own personal experience, both as an investor in recent years and an expert witness in years past, rarely do more than three or four variables really count. Everything else is noise.” — Martin Whitman
