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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 2018, and take a look at what happened to investors who asked that very question about Meta Platforms Inc (NASD: META), by taking a look at the investment outcome over a five year holding period.

Start date: 09/21/2018
$10,000

09/21/2018
  $18,391

09/20/2023
End date: 09/20/2023
Start price/share: $162.93
End price/share: $299.67
Starting shares: 61.38
Ending shares: 61.38
Dividends reinvested/share: $0.00
Total return: 83.93%
Average annual return: 12.96%
Starting investment: $10,000.00
Ending investment: $18,391.77

The above analysis shows the five year investment result worked out quite well, with an annualized rate of return of 12.96%. This would have turned a $10K investment made 5 years ago into $18,391.77 today (as of 09/20/2023). On a total return basis, that’s a result of 83.93% (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.]

One more piece of investment wisdom to leave you with:
“While it might seem that anyone can be a value investor, the essential characteristics of this type of investor-patience, discipline, and risk aversion-may well be genetically determined.” — Seth Klarman