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“I buy on the assumption that they could close the market the next day and not reopen it for five years.”

— Warren Buffett

The Warren Buffett investment philosophy calls for a long-term investment horizon, where a five year holding period, or even longer, would fit right into the strategy. How would such a strategy have worked out for an investment into Dollar Tree Inc (NASD: DLTR)? Today, we examine the outcome of a five year investment into the stock back in 2015.

Start date: 04/22/2015
$10,000

04/22/2015
$9,649

04/21/2020
End date: 04/21/2020
Start price/share: $80.57
End price/share: $77.74
Starting shares: 124.12
Ending shares: 124.12
Dividends reinvested/share: $0.00
Total return: -3.51%
Average annual return: -0.71%
Starting investment: $10,000.00
Ending investment: $9,649.82

As shown above, the five year investment result worked out poorly, with an annualized rate of return of -0.71%. This would have turned a $10K investment made 5 years ago into $9,649.82 today (as of 04/21/2020). On a total return basis, that’s a result of -3.51% (something to think about: how might DLTR shares perform over the next 5 years?). [These numbers were computed with the Dividend Channel DRIP Returns Calculator.]

More investment wisdom to ponder:
“One of the funny things about the stock market is that every time one person buys, another sells, and both think they are astute.” — William Feather