Photo credit: commons.wikimedia.org

“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 United Airlines Holdings Inc (NASD: UAL)? Today, we examine the outcome of a five year investment into the stock back in 2017.

Start date: 07/17/2017
$10,000

07/17/2017
$4,743

07/14/2022
End date: 07/14/2022
Start price/share: $79.78
End price/share: $37.85
Starting shares: 125.34
Ending shares: 125.34
Dividends reinvested/share: $0.00
Total return: -52.56%
Average annual return: -13.87%
Starting investment: $10,000.00
Ending investment: $4,743.81

As we can see, the five year investment result worked out poorly, with an annualized rate of return of -13.87%. This would have turned a $10K investment made 5 years ago into $4,743.81 today (as of 07/14/2022). On a total return basis, that’s a result of -52.56% (something to think about: how might UAL shares perform over the next 5 years?). [These numbers were computed with the Dividend Channel DRIP Returns Calculator.]

Here’s one more great investment quote before you go:
“In investing, what is comfortable is rarely profitable.” — Robert Arnott