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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 Biogen Inc (NASD: BIIB)? Today, we examine the outcome of a five year investment into the stock back in 2017.

Start date: 03/02/2017
$10,000

03/02/2017
$7,165

03/01/2022
End date: 03/01/2022
Start price/share: $293.59
End price/share: $210.34
Starting shares: 34.06
Ending shares: 34.06
Dividends reinvested/share: $0.00
Total return: -28.36%
Average annual return: -6.45%
Starting investment: $10,000.00
Ending investment: $7,165.05

As we can see, the five year investment result worked out poorly, with an annualized rate of return of -6.45%. This would have turned a $10K investment made 5 years ago into $7,165.05 today (as of 03/01/2022). On a total return basis, that’s a result of -28.36% (something to think about: how might BIIB 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:
“Investing is the intersection of economics and psychology.” — Seth Klarman