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“When we own portions of outstanding businesses with outstanding managements, our favorite holding period is forever.”

— Warren Buffett

The Warren Buffett investment philosophy calls for a long-term investment horizon, where a two-decade 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 two-decade investment into the stock back in 2004.

Start date: 01/30/2004
$10,000

01/30/2004
  $55,891

01/29/2024
End date: 01/29/2024
Start price/share: $40.15
End price/share: $224.56
Starting shares: 249.07
Ending shares: 249.07
Dividends reinvested/share: $0.00
Total return: 459.30%
Average annual return: 8.98%
Starting investment: $10,000.00
Ending investment: $55,891.45

As shown above, the two-decade investment result worked out well, with an annualized rate of return of 8.98%. This would have turned a $10K investment made 20 years ago into $55,891.45 today (as of 01/29/2024). On a total return basis, that’s a result of 459.30% (something to think about: how might CRL shares perform over the next 20 years?). [These numbers were computed with the Dividend Channel DRIP Returns Calculator.]

One more investment quote to leave you with:
“Cash is a fact, profit is an opinion.” — Alfred Rappaport