“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 Fiserv Inc (NASD: FISV), by taking a look at the investment outcome over a five year holding period.
| Start date: | 12/08/2016 |
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| End date: | 12/07/2021 | ||||
| Start price/share: | $52.36 | ||||
| End price/share: | $103.13 | ||||
| Starting shares: | 190.99 | ||||
| Ending shares: | 190.99 | ||||
| Dividends reinvested/share: | $0.00 | ||||
| Total return: | 96.96% | ||||
| Average annual return: | 14.52% | ||||
| Starting investment: | $10,000.00 | ||||
| Ending investment: | $19,697.30 | ||||
The above analysis shows the five year investment result worked out quite well, with an annualized rate of return of 14.52%. This would have turned a $10K investment made 5 years ago into $19,697.30 today (as of 12/07/2021). On a total return basis, that’s a result of 96.96% (something to think about: how might FISV 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:
“Every day that you’re not selling an asset in your portfolio, you’re choosing to buy it.” — Sam Zell
