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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 Charles River Laboratories International Inc. (NYSE: CRL)? Today, we examine the outcome of a five year investment into the stock back in 2018.

Start date: 08/13/2018
$10,000

08/13/2018
  $18,145

08/10/2023
End date: 08/10/2023
Start price/share: $119.93
End price/share: $217.61
Starting shares: 83.38
Ending shares: 83.38
Dividends reinvested/share: $0.00
Total return: 81.45%
Average annual return: 12.67%
Starting investment: $10,000.00
Ending investment: $18,145.03

As shown above, the five year investment result worked out quite well, with an annualized rate of return of 12.67%. This would have turned a $10K investment made 5 years ago into $18,145.03 today (as of 08/10/2023). On a total return basis, that’s a result of 81.45% (something to think about: how might CRL 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:
“People who succeed in the stock market also accept periodic losses, setbacks, and unexpected occurrences. Calamitous drops do not scare them out of the game.” — Peter Lynch