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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 2017, and take a look at what happened to investors who asked that very question about Adobe Inc (NASD: ADBE), by taking a look at the investment outcome over a five year holding period.

Start date: 08/11/2017
$10,000

08/11/2017
  $29,936

08/10/2022
End date: 08/10/2022
Start price/share: $146.47
End price/share: $438.40
Starting shares: 68.27
Ending shares: 68.27
Dividends reinvested/share: $0.00
Total return: 199.31%
Average annual return: 24.52%
Starting investment: $10,000.00
Ending investment: $29,936.12

As shown above, the five year investment result worked out exceptionally well, with an annualized rate of return of 24.52%. This would have turned a $10K investment made 5 years ago into $29,936.12 today (as of 08/10/2022). On a total return basis, that’s a result of 199.31% (something to think about: how might ADBE shares perform over the next 5 years?). [These numbers were computed with the Dividend Channel DRIP Returns Calculator.]

One more investment quote to leave you with:
“Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it; he who doesn’t, pays it.” — Albert Einstein