“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 2018, and take a look at what happened to investors who asked that very question about First Solar Inc (NASD: FSLR), by taking a look at the investment outcome over a five year holding period.
| Start date: | 05/14/2018 |
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| End date: | 05/11/2023 | ||||
| Start price/share: | $73.54 | ||||
| End price/share: | $183.19 | ||||
| Starting shares: | 135.98 | ||||
| Ending shares: | 135.98 | ||||
| Dividends reinvested/share: | $0.00 | ||||
| Total return: | 149.10% | ||||
| Average annual return: | 20.05% | ||||
| Starting investment: | $10,000.00 | ||||
| Ending investment: | $24,910.13 | ||||
As shown above, the five year investment result worked out exceptionally well, with an annualized rate of return of 20.05%. This would have turned a $10K investment made 5 years ago into $24,910.13 today (as of 05/11/2023). On a total return basis, that’s a result of 149.10% (something to think about: how might FSLR 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:
“It’s not how much money you make, but how much money you keep.” — Robert Kiyosaki
