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“Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.”

— Warren Buffett

The Warren Buffett investment philosophy calls for a long-term investment horizon, where a two-decade holding period, or even longer, would fit right into the strategy. How would such a strategy have worked out for an investment into ABIOMED, Inc. (NASD: ABMD)? Today, we examine the outcome of a two-decade investment into the stock back in 2001.

Start date: 03/01/2001
$10,000

03/01/2001
$147,516

02/26/2021
End date: 02/26/2021
Start price/share: $22.00
End price/share: $324.55
Starting shares: 454.55
Ending shares: 454.55
Dividends reinvested/share: $0.00
Total return: 1,375.23%
Average annual return: 14.40%
Starting investment: $10,000.00
Ending investment: $147,516.51

As we can see, the two-decade investment result worked out quite well, with an annualized rate of return of 14.40%. This would have turned a $10K investment made 20 years ago into $147,516.51 today (as of 02/26/2021). On a total return basis, that’s a result of 1,375.23% (something to think about: how might ABMD shares perform over the next 20 years?). [These numbers were computed with the Dividend Channel DRIP Returns Calculator.]

More investment wisdom to ponder:
“If you’re looking for a home run, a great investment for five years or 10 years or more, then the only way to beat this enormous fog that covers the future is to identify a long-term trend that will give a particular business some sort of edge.” — Ralph Wanger