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

Start date: 08/14/2017
$10,000

08/14/2017
  $10,395

08/11/2022
End date: 08/11/2022
Start price/share: $170.75
End price/share: $177.49
Starting shares: 58.57
Ending shares: 58.57
Dividends reinvested/share: $0.00
Total return: 3.95%
Average annual return: 0.78%
Starting investment: $10,000.00
Ending investment: $10,395.69

As shown above, the five year investment result worked out as follows, with an annualized rate of return of 0.78%. This would have turned a $10K investment made 5 years ago into $10,395.69 today (as of 08/11/2022). On a total return basis, that’s a result of 3.95% (something to think about: how might META shares perform over the next 5 years?). [These numbers were computed with the Dividend Channel DRIP Returns Calculator.]

More investment wisdom to ponder:
“If you are not willing to own a stock for 10 years, do not even think about owning it for 10 minutes.” — Warren Buffett