“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 is a useful test of whether a stock has rewarded patient capital through both price performance and dividend income. For Revvity Inc (NYSE: RVTY), the five-year buy-and-hold outcome from July 1, 2021 through June 30, 2026 was negative on a total return basis, even after assuming reinvestment of all dividends.
Using a starting investment of $10,000, the position would have declined to $7,280.67 by June 30, 2026. That equates to a total return of -27.18% and an average annual return of -6.15%. The result underscores a basic point about long-term equity investing: dividend reinvestment can cushion losses, but it does not offset a meaningful decline in the underlying share price.
RVTY 5-Year Return Details
| Start date: | 07/01/2021 |
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| End date: | 06/30/2026 | ||||
| Start price/share: | $154.60 | ||||
| End price/share: | $111.26 | ||||
| Starting shares: | 64.68 | ||||
| Ending shares: | 65.45 | ||||
| Dividends reinvested/share: | $1.40 | ||||
| Total return: | -27.18% | ||||
| Average annual return: | -6.15% | ||||
| Starting investment: | $10,000.00 | ||||
| Ending investment: | $7,280.67 | ||||
These figures indicate that a $10,000 investment in Revvity shares over the period produced a capital loss that modest dividend reinvestment only partially offset. [These numbers were computed with the Dividend Channel DRIP Returns Calculator.]
What Drove the 5-Year Return?
The key driver was the stock price decline. Revvity fell from $154.60 per share to $111.26 over the period, a drop of roughly 28%. Dividends helped at the margin, but not enough to reverse the effect of the lower ending share price.
The reinvestment assumption increased the share count from 64.68 shares to 65.45 shares. That is a modest gain in ownership, reflecting the stock’s relatively low dividend payout. In practical terms, the distribution stream added incremental value, but the investment outcome remained dominated by changes in valuation and share price.
Dividend Impact and Yield Metrics
Revvity paid $1.40 per share in cumulative dividends over the five-year span used in this analysis. Because the dividends were assumed to be reinvested on each ex-dividend date at the closing price, the total return result is more complete than a price-only comparison.
Based on the most recent annualized dividend rate of $0.28 per share, the stock’s current yield is approximately 0.25% using the ending share price of $111.26. Another useful measure is yield on cost, which compares the current annualized dividend to the original purchase price of $154.60. On that basis, the yield on cost is approximately 0.18%.
Key Takeaways From This Buy-and-Hold Example
- Initial investment: $10,000.00
- Ending value: $7,280.67
- Total return with dividends reinvested: -27.18%
- Average annual return: -6.15%
- Cumulative dividends per share over the period: $1.40
This five-year Revvity buy-and-hold outcome illustrates an important distinction between owning a dividend-paying stock and owning a high-income stock. Revvity did provide dividends, but at a low yield level. As a result, total return remained highly sensitive to the share price path. For lower-yield equities, long-term results typically depend far more on earnings growth, margin durability, capital allocation, and valuation multiples than on dividend income alone.
That makes five-year return analysis particularly useful. It frames the stock not simply as a ticker symbol, but as a business whose shareholder outcome reflects both operating performance and the price investors were willing to pay at the start and end of the holding period.
Here is one additional investment observation worth keeping in view:
“I think you have to learn that there’s a company behind every stock, and that there’s only one real reason why stocks go up. Companies go from doing poorly to doing well or small companies grow to large companies.” — Peter Lynch
