MGM Resorts International 5-Year Return: What a 2021 Investment Would Be Worth Today
“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 be a useful test of whether a stock has created durable shareholder value through a full market cycle. For MGM Resorts International (NYSE: MGM), the five-year investment result from late 2021 through November 2026 was negative, with share-price weakness far outweighing the minimal contribution from dividends.
An investor who committed $10,000 to MGM Resorts International on 11/15/2021 would have seen that position decline to $7,256.11 by 11/12/2026, assuming dividends were reinvested. That represents a total return of -27.43%, or an average annual return of -6.22%.
MGM 5-Year Return Details
| Start date: | 11/15/2021 |
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| End date: | 11/12/2026 | ||||
| Start price/share: | $45.82 | ||||
| End price/share: | $33.24 | ||||
| Starting shares: | 218.25 | ||||
| Ending shares: | 218.33 | ||||
| Dividends reinvested/share: | $0.01 | ||||
| Total return: | -27.43% | ||||
| Average annual return: | -6.22% | ||||
| Starting investment: | $10,000.00 | ||||
| Ending investment: | $7,256.11 | ||||
What Drove the Negative Return?
The result was driven primarily by capital depreciation. MGM shares fell from $45.82 to $33.24 over the measurement period, a decline that more than explains the negative total return. Dividend income had only a negligible offset, with just $0.01 per share reinvested over the full five years.
That distinction matters. For income-oriented holdings, dividends can cushion periods of weak price performance and materially support long-run compounding. In MGM’s case, the investment outcome was overwhelmingly determined by the stock’s market price rather than by cash distributions.
How a $10,000 MGM Investment Changed Over Five Years
In simple terms:
- Initial investment: $10,000.00
- Value at the end of the period: $7,256.11
- Total dollar loss: $2,743.89
- Total return: -27.43%
- Annualized return: -6.22%
The ending share count rose only modestly, from 218.25 shares to 218.33 shares, reflecting the very limited impact of dividend reinvestment. For practical purposes, this was a price-driven investment outcome.
MGM as a Total Return Stock
MGM Resorts International is generally evaluated more as a cyclical consumer and leisure stock than as an income vehicle. Its earnings power is tied to travel demand, consumer discretionary spending, convention activity, destination traffic, and operating performance in gaming, lodging, and entertainment. As a result, the stock can be sensitive to shifts in the economic cycle, margin expectations, and investor sentiment toward consumer-facing businesses.
The company has also evolved over time in ways that can affect how investors frame the business. MGM has meaningful exposure to Las Vegas and regional gaming, while digital initiatives and online sports betting have at times influenced valuation expectations. Even so, for long-term shareholders, the realized return ultimately depends on the price paid at entry, the durability of operating cash flow, capital allocation discipline, and whether market expectations prove too optimistic or too conservative.
Dividend Profile and Yield on Cost
Based on the data shown above, MGM contributed essentially no meaningful dividend return during this period. With dividends reinvested totaling just $0.01 per share, the stock did not function as a material source of portfolio income over these five years.
That also means yield on cost remained effectively negligible for an investor who bought at $45.82 per share. In this case, the investment thesis would have needed to rest primarily on business growth, multiple expansion, or share-price appreciation rather than on dividend compounding.
[These numbers were computed with the Dividend Channel DRIP Returns Calculator.]
Key Takeaway
A five-year investment in MGM Resorts International beginning in November 2021 produced a negative total return, turning $10,000 into $7,256.11. The outcome underscores a basic point about MGM stock: over this holding period, shareholder results were dictated by the direction of the share price, not by dividends.
One more piece of investment wisdom to leave you with:
“In investing, what is comfortable is rarely profitable.” — Robert Arnott
