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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 Carmax Inc. (NYSE: KMX)? Today, we examine the outcome of a five year investment into the stock back in 2020.

Start date: 04/14/2020
$10,000

04/14/2020
  $10,619

04/11/2025
End date: 04/11/2025
Start price/share: $64.39
End price/share: $68.36
Starting shares: 155.30
Ending shares: 155.30
Dividends reinvested/share: $0.00
Total return: 6.17%
Average annual return: 1.21%
Starting investment: $10,000.00
Ending investment: $10,619.12

As we can see, the five year investment result worked out as follows, with an annualized rate of return of 1.21%. This would have turned a $10K investment made 5 years ago into $10,619.12 today (as of 04/11/2025). On a total return basis, that’s a result of 6.17% (something to think about: how might KMX shares perform over the next 5 years?). [These numbers were computed with the Dividend Channel DRIP Returns Calculator.]

Here’s one more great investment quote before you go:
“Buy not on optimism, but on arithmetic.” — Benjamin Graham