“Only buy something that you’d be perfectly happy to hold if the market shut down for 10 years.”
— Warren Buffett
A 10-year holding period can reveal far more about a business and its shareholder return profile than short-term price moves. For Expeditors International of Washington, Inc. (NYSE: EXPD), the period beginning in May 2016 shows how capital appreciation and dividend reinvestment combined to produce a strong long-term result.
Expeditors International is a global logistics and freight forwarding company, so its performance is tied in part to trade volumes, supply-chain activity, operating execution, and margin discipline. Over a full market cycle, those fundamentals matter more than near-term volatility. The data below shows what an initial $10,000 investment in EXPD shares would have grown to over the last decade, assuming dividends were reinvested.
EXPD 10-Year Return Overview
| Start date: | 05/20/2016 |
|
|||
| End date: | 05/19/2026 | ||||
| Start price/share: | $48.43 | ||||
| End price/share: | $157.60 | ||||
| Starting shares: | 206.48 | ||||
| Ending shares: | 234.15 | ||||
| Dividends reinvested/share: | $11.46 | ||||
| Total return: | 269.03% | ||||
| Average annual return: | 13.94% | ||||
| Starting investment: | $10,000.00 | ||||
| Ending investment: | $36,890.75 | ||||
On these assumptions, a $10,000 investment in Expeditors International made on 05/20/2016 would have grown to $36,890.75 by 05/19/2026. That equates to a total return of 269.03% and an average annual return of 13.94%.
The result is notable for two reasons. First, the ending value reflects not just the increase in EXPD’s share price, but also the compounding effect of reinvested dividends. Second, the annualized return illustrates how sustained compounding over a decade can materially increase wealth even when the current dividend yield is modest.
These figures were computed using the Dividend Channel DRIP Returns Calculator.
What Drove the 10-Year Return?
The bulk of the gain came from share price appreciation. EXPD rose from $48.43 to $157.60 over the period, more than tripling in price. Dividend reinvestment added a second layer of return by increasing the share count from 206.48 to 234.15.
In practical terms, dividend reinvestment meant that cash distributions were converted into additional shares along the way. Those extra shares then participated in future price gains and future dividend payments, creating the compounding effect that long-term total return investors focus on.
Dividend Reinvestment and Yield on Cost
Over the past 10 years, Expeditors International of Washington, Inc. paid $11.46 per share in dividends. In the return calculation above, those dividends are assumed to have been reinvested into additional shares at the closing price on each dividend ex-date.
Based on the most recent annualized dividend rate of $1.62 per share, EXPD has a current yield of approximately 1.03%. Measured against the original purchase price of $48.43 per share, that same annualized dividend implies a yield on cost of 2.13%.
Yield on cost does not describe the return available to a new buyer today, but it is useful for understanding how dividend growth can improve the cash income generated by a long-held position. For long-duration holdings, the distinction between current yield and yield on cost can become meaningful.
Key Takeaways From the EXPD Investment Result
- Initial investment: $10,000.00
- Ending value after 10 years: $36,890.75
- Total return with dividends reinvested: 269.03%
- Average annual return: 13.94%
- Current annualized dividend rate used in the analysis: $1.62 per share
- Current yield: approximately 1.03%
- Yield on original cost: 2.13%
The broader lesson is straightforward: in dividend-paying stocks, long-term performance is best evaluated on a total return basis rather than by price appreciation alone. For EXPD, the combination of stock price gains and reinvested distributions produced a meaningfully stronger outcome than price change by itself would suggest.
One more investment quote to leave you with:
“Buy not on optimism, but on arithmetic.” — Benjamin Graham
