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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: 11/17/2015
$10,000

11/17/2015
$5,299

11/16/2020
End date: 11/16/2020
Start price/share: $62.17
End price/share: $32.94
Starting shares: 160.85
Ending shares: 160.85
Dividends reinvested/share: $0.00
Total return: -47.02%
Average annual return: -11.92%
Starting investment: $10,000.00
Ending investment: $5,299.51

As we can see, the five year investment result worked out poorly, with an annualized rate of return of -11.92%. This would have turned a $10K investment made 5 years ago into $5,299.51 today (as of 11/16/2020). On a total return basis, that’s a result of -47.02% (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.]

Another great investment quote to think about:
“I made my money by selling too soon.” — Bernard Baruch