Ross Stores 5-Year Total Return: What a $10,000 Investment in ROST Became
“I buy on the assumption that they could close the market the next day and not reopen it for five years.”
— Warren Buffett
A five-year holding period can reveal far more about a business than short-term price moves. For Ross Stores Inc (NASD: ROST), a hypothetical $10,000 investment made on 11/04/2021 and held through 11/03/2026 would have grown to $20,805.00 with dividends reinvested. That translates into a 108.07% total return and an annualized return of 15.78%.
The result underscores the value of evaluating total return rather than focusing only on share-price appreciation. In ROST’s case, both capital gains and dividend reinvestment contributed to the outcome, with the stock price rising from $117.59 to $231.60 over the period.
ROST 5-Year Return Details
| Start date: | 11/04/2021 |
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| End date: | 11/03/2026 | ||||
| Start price/share: | $117.59 | ||||
| End price/share: | $231.60 | ||||
| Starting shares: | 85.04 | ||||
| Ending shares: | 89.84 | ||||
| Dividends reinvested/share: | $7.29 | ||||
| Total return: | 108.07% | ||||
| Average annual return: | 15.78% | ||||
| Starting investment: | $10,000.00 | ||||
| Ending investment: | $20,805.00 | ||||
What Drove the Return
The five-year result was driven primarily by share-price appreciation, with dividends providing an additional lift through reinvestment. Starting with 85.04 shares, the position grew to 89.84 shares as cash distributions were reinvested. That increase in share count allowed subsequent price appreciation to compound over a larger base.
This distinction matters. A stock’s quoted price return captures only the change in market value per share. Total return adds the effect of cash distributions, assuming those distributions are either retained or, as in this case, reinvested. For companies that pay regular dividends, the gap between price return and total return can become meaningful over multi-year periods.
[These numbers were computed with the Dividend Channel DRIP Returns Calculator.]
ROST Dividend Context
Over the full holding period, Ross Stores paid a cumulative $7.29 per share in dividends. Based on the most recent annualized dividend rate of $1.78 per share, ROST has a current yield of approximately 0.77% using the ending share price of $231.60.
Another useful measure is yield on cost, which compares the current annualized dividend to the original purchase price. Using the initial price of $117.59 per share, the current $1.78 annualized dividend equates to a yield on cost of about 1.51%. That figure differs from current yield because it is anchored to the investor’s original entry price rather than the market price today.
Why Ross Stores Matters in a Long-Term Portfolio Review
Ross Stores operates in the off-price retail segment, a business model built around branded merchandise sold at discounts to traditional department and specialty store prices. In retail, long-term returns often depend on execution rather than headline growth alone: inventory discipline, purchasing flexibility, store economics, and consistent customer traffic tend to matter more than short-lived shifts in sentiment.
That helps explain why a five-year review can be more informative than a shorter snapshot. A multi-year holding period captures whether a company was able to translate its operating model into durable shareholder returns through different market conditions, while also showing the practical impact of dividend reinvestment.
ROST 5-Year Return at a Glance
- Initial investment: $10,000.00
- Ending value: $20,805.00
- Total return: 108.07%
- Annualized return: 15.78%
- Dividends paid per share over the period: $7.29
- Starting share price: $117.59
- Ending share price: $231.60
One of the clearest lessons from this ROST example is that long-term stock performance is best assessed through total return, not price appreciation alone. In this case, patience, reinvested dividends, and a substantial rise in the share price combined to more than double the original investment over five years.
“The key to investing is not assessing how much an industry is going to affect society, or how much it will grow, but rather determining the competitive advantage of any given company and, above all, the durability of that advantage.” — Warren Buffett
