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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 DISH Network Corp (NASD: DISH)? Today, we examine the outcome of a five year investment into the stock back in 2015.

Start date: 09/09/2015
$10,000

09/09/2015
$5,613

09/08/2020
End date: 09/08/2020
Start price/share: $58.83
End price/share: $33.03
Starting shares: 169.98
Ending shares: 169.98
Dividends reinvested/share: $0.00
Total return: -43.86%
Average annual return: -10.90%
Starting investment: $10,000.00
Ending investment: $5,613.73

As we can see, the five year investment result worked out poorly, with an annualized rate of return of -10.90%. This would have turned a $10K investment made 5 years ago into $5,613.73 today (as of 09/08/2020). On a total return basis, that’s a result of -43.86% (something to think about: how might DISH shares perform over the next 5 years?). [These numbers were computed with the Dividend Channel DRIP Returns Calculator.]

More investment wisdom to ponder:
“History provides a crucial insight regarding market crises: they are inevitable, painful and ultimately surmountable.” — Shelby Davis