“Only buy something that you’d be perfectly happy to hold if the market shut down for 10 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 decade-long period?
Today, let’s look backwards in time to 2015, and take a look at what happened to investors who asked that very question about Adobe Inc (NASD: ADBE), by taking a look at the investment outcome over a decade-long holding period.
| Start date: | 06/11/2015 |
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| End date: | 06/10/2025 | ||||
| Start price/share: | $79.65 | ||||
| End price/share: | $416.06 | ||||
| Starting shares: | 125.55 | ||||
| Ending shares: | 125.55 | ||||
| Dividends reinvested/share: | $0.00 | ||||
| Total return: | 422.36% | ||||
| Average annual return: | 17.97% | ||||
| Starting investment: | $10,000.00 | ||||
| Ending investment: | $52,252.74 | ||||
The above analysis shows the decade-long investment result worked out exceptionally well, with an annualized rate of return of 17.97%. This would have turned a $10K investment made 10 years ago into $52,252.74 today (as of 06/10/2025). On a total return basis, that’s a result of 422.36% (something to think about: how might ADBE shares perform over the next 10 years?). [These numbers were computed with the Dividend Channel DRIP Returns Calculator.]
One more piece of investment wisdom to leave you with:
“The most important quality for an investor is temperament, not intellect. You need a temperament that neither derives great pleasure from being with the crowd or against the crowd.” — Warren Buffett
