Photo credit: commons.wikimedia.org

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

— Warren Buffett

One of the most important things investors can learn from Warren Buffett, is about how they approach their time horizon for an investment into a stock under consideration. Because immediately after buying shares of a given stock, investors will then be able to check on the day-to-day (and even minute-by-minute) market value. Some days the stock market will be up, other days down. These daily fluctuations can often distract from the long-term view. Today, we look at the result of a five year holding period for an investor who was considering Illumina Inc (NASD: ILMN) back in 2015, bought the stock, ignored the market’s ups and downs, and simply held through to today.

Start date: 07/10/2015
$10,000

07/10/2015
$16,977

07/09/2020
End date: 07/09/2020
Start price/share: $219.45
End price/share: $372.60
Starting shares: 45.57
Ending shares: 45.57
Dividends reinvested/share: $0.00
Total return: 69.79%
Average annual return: 11.16%
Starting investment: $10,000.00
Ending investment: $16,977.30

As we can see, the five year investment result worked out quite well, with an annualized rate of return of 11.16%. This would have turned a $10K investment made 5 years ago into $16,977.30 today (as of 07/09/2020). On a total return basis, that’s a result of 69.79% (something to think about: how might ILMN shares perform over the next 5 years?). [These numbers were computed with the Dividend Channel DRIP Returns Calculator.]

Here’s one more great investment quote before you go:
“If you can follow only one bit of data, follow the earnings.” — Peter Lynch