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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: 05/26/2020
$10,000

05/26/2020
  $7,306

05/23/2025
End date: 05/23/2025
Start price/share: $85.22
End price/share: $62.27
Starting shares: 117.34
Ending shares: 117.34
Dividends reinvested/share: $0.00
Total return: -26.93%
Average annual return: -6.09%
Starting investment: $10,000.00
Ending investment: $7,306.49

As we can see, the five year investment result worked out poorly, with an annualized rate of return of -6.09%. This would have turned a $10K investment made 5 years ago into $7,306.49 today (as of 05/23/2025). On a total return basis, that’s a result of -26.93% (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.]

One more investment quote to leave you with:
“I make no attempt to forecast the market; my efforts are devoted to finding undervalued securities.” — Warren Buffett