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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 above quote from Warren Buffett is timeless, and brings into focus the choice about time horizon that any investor should think about before buying a stock they are considering. Behind every stock is an actual business; what will that business look like over a five year period?

Today, let’s look backwards in time to 2016, and take a look at what happened to investors who asked that very question about Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NASD: AMD), by taking a look at the investment outcome over a five year holding period.

Start date: 09/28/2016
$10,000

09/28/2016
$164,130

09/27/2021
End date: 09/27/2021
Start price/share: $6.59
End price/share: $108.16
Starting shares: 1,517.45
Ending shares: 1,517.45
Dividends reinvested/share: $0.00
Total return: 1,541.27%
Average annual return: 75.00%
Starting investment: $10,000.00
Ending investment: $164,130.86

As shown above, the five year investment result worked out exceptionally well, with an annualized rate of return of 75.00%. This would have turned a $10K investment made 5 years ago into $164,130.86 today (as of 09/27/2021). On a total return basis, that’s a result of 1,541.27% (something to think about: how might AMD 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:
“If I’ve learned one thing in this life it’s this: even if you lose, don’t lose the lesson.” — Daymond John