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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 Akamai Technologies Inc (NASD: AKAM)? Today, we examine the outcome of a five year investment into the stock back in 2019.

Start date: 11/22/2019
$10,000

11/22/2019
  $10,355

11/21/2024
End date: 11/21/2024
Start price/share: $87.97
End price/share: $91.08
Starting shares: 113.68
Ending shares: 113.68
Dividends reinvested/share: $0.00
Total return: 3.54%
Average annual return: 0.70%
Starting investment: $10,000.00
Ending investment: $10,355.13

As shown above, the five year investment result worked out as follows, with an annualized rate of return of 0.70%. This would have turned a $10K investment made 5 years ago into $10,355.13 today (as of 11/21/2024). On a total return basis, that’s a result of 3.54% (something to think about: how might AKAM 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:
“The intelligent investor is a realist who sells to optimists and buys from pessimists.” — Benjamin Graham