Pat Yourself On The Back If You Bought ALGN in 2010

Photo credit: commons.wikimedia.org

— Warren Buffett

A key lesson we can learn from Warren Buffett, is about how to think about a potential stock investment in the context of a long-term time horizon. Every investor in a stock has a choice: bite our fingernails over the short-term ups and downs that are inevitable with the stock market, or, zero in on stocks we are comfortable to simply buy and hold for the long haul — maybe even a ten year holding period. Heck, investors can even choose to completely ignore the stock market’s short-run quotations and instead go into their initial investment planning to hold on for years and years regardless of the fluctuations in price that might occur next.

Today, we examine what would have happened over a ten year holding period, had you decided back in 2010 to buy shares of Align Technology Inc (NASD: ALGN) and simply hold through to today.

ALGN 10-Year Return Details
Start date:	09/29/2010	$10,000 09/29/2010 $162,680 09/28/2020
End date:	09/28/2020
Start price/share:	$19.85
End price/share:	$322.86
Starting shares:	503.78
Ending shares:	503.78
Dividends reinvested/share:	$0.00
Total return:	1,526.50%
Average annual return:	32.15%
Starting investment:	$10,000.00
Ending investment:	$162,680.33

As we can see, the ten year investment result worked out exceptionally well, with an annualized rate of return of 32.15%. This would have turned a $10K investment made 10 years ago into $162,680.33 today (as of 09/28/2020). On a total return basis, that’s a result of 1,526.50% (something to think about: how might ALGN shares perform over the next 10 years?). [These numbers were computed with the Dividend Channel DRIP Returns Calculator.]

Another great investment quote to think about:
“The underlying principles of sound investment should not alter from decade to decade, but the application of these principles must be adapted to significant changes in the financial mechanisms and climate.” — Benjamin Graham