“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 Adobe Inc (NASD: ADBE)? Today, we examine the outcome of a five year investment into the stock back in 2021.
| Start date: | 02/02/2021 |
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| End date: | 01/30/2026 | ||||
| Start price/share: | $484.93 | ||||
| End price/share: | $293.25 | ||||
| Starting shares: | 20.62 | ||||
| Ending shares: | 20.62 | ||||
| Dividends reinvested/share: | $0.00 | ||||
| Total return: | -39.53% | ||||
| Average annual return: | -9.58% | ||||
| Starting investment: | $10,000.00 | ||||
| Ending investment: | $6,047.31 | ||||
As shown above, the five year investment result worked out poorly, with an annualized rate of return of -9.58%. This would have turned a $10K investment made 5 years ago into $6,047.31 today (as of 01/30/2026). On a total return basis, that’s a result of -39.53% (something to think about: how might ADBE shares perform over the next 5 years?). [These numbers were computed with the Dividend Channel DRIP Returns Calculator.]
Another great investment quote to think about:
“All you need for a lifetime of successful investing is a few big winners, and the pluses from those will overwhelm the minuses from the stocks that don’t work out.” — Peter Lynch