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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 Mylan NV (NASD: MYL)? Today, we examine the outcome of a five year investment into the stock back in 2015.

Start date: 06/26/2015
$10,000

06/26/2015
$2,371

06/25/2020
End date: 06/25/2020
Start price/share: $69.06
End price/share: $16.38
Starting shares: 144.80
Ending shares: 144.80
Dividends reinvested/share: $0.00
Total return: -76.28%
Average annual return: -25.00%
Starting investment: $10,000.00
Ending investment: $2,371.18

As we can see, the five year investment result worked out poorly, with an annualized rate of return of -25.00%. This would have turned a $10K investment made 5 years ago into $2,371.18 today (as of 06/25/2020). On a total return basis, that’s a result of -76.28% (something to think about: how might MYL shares perform over the next 5 years?). [These numbers were computed with the Dividend Channel DRIP Returns Calculator.]

Another great investment quote to think about:
“In trading you have to be defensive and aggressive at the same time. If you are not aggressive, you are not going to make money, and if you are not defensive, you are not going to keep money.” — Ray Dalio