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“When we own portions of outstanding businesses with outstanding managements, our favorite holding period is forever.”

— Warren Buffett

The Warren Buffett investment philosophy calls for a long-term investment horizon, where a twenty year holding period, or even longer, would fit right into the strategy. How would such a strategy have worked out for an investment into Waters Corp. (NYSE: WAT)? Today, we examine the outcome of a twenty year investment into the stock back in 2000.

Start date: 04/03/2000
$10,000

04/03/2000
$41,789

03/31/2020
End date: 03/31/2020
Start price/share: $43.56
End price/share: $182.05
Starting shares: 229.57
Ending shares: 229.57
Dividends reinvested/share: $0.00
Total return: 317.93%
Average annual return: 7.41%
Starting investment: $10,000.00
Ending investment: $41,789.24

As we can see, the twenty year investment result worked out well, with an annualized rate of return of 7.41%. This would have turned a $10K investment made 20 years ago into $41,789.24 today (as of 03/31/2020). On a total return basis, that’s a result of 317.93% (something to think about: how might WAT 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:
“Finding the best person or the best organization to invest your money is one of the most important financial decisions you’ll ever make.” — Bill Gross