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

Start date: 07/13/2016
$10,000

07/13/2016
$20,324

07/12/2021
End date: 07/12/2021
Start price/share: $56.86
End price/share: $115.55
Starting shares: 175.87
Ending shares: 175.87
Dividends reinvested/share: $0.00
Total return: 103.22%
Average annual return: 15.24%
Starting investment: $10,000.00
Ending investment: $20,324.33

As we can see, the five year investment result worked out exceptionally well, with an annualized rate of return of 15.24%. This would have turned a $10K investment made 5 years ago into $20,324.33 today (as of 07/12/2021). On a total return basis, that’s a result of 103.22% (something to think about: how might AKAM shares perform over the next 5 years?). [These numbers were computed with the Dividend Channel DRIP Returns Calculator.]

One more piece of investment wisdom to leave you with:
“In investing, what is comfortable is rarely profitable.” — Robert Arnott