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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 Illumina Inc (NASD: ILMN)? Today, we examine the outcome of a five year investment into the stock back in 2016.

Start date: 07/27/2016
$10,000

07/27/2016
$30,298

07/26/2021
End date: 07/26/2021
Start price/share: $162.25
End price/share: $491.51
Starting shares: 61.63
Ending shares: 61.63
Dividends reinvested/share: $0.00
Total return: 202.93%
Average annual return: 24.82%
Starting investment: $10,000.00
Ending investment: $30,298.48

As shown above, the five year investment result worked out exceptionally well, with an annualized rate of return of 24.82%. This would have turned a $10K investment made 5 years ago into $30,298.48 today (as of 07/26/2021). On a total return basis, that’s a result of 202.93% (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.]

More investment wisdom to ponder:
“Our job is to find a few intelligent things to do, not to keep up with every damn thing in the world.” — Charlie Munger