Free calculator

Stock Return and CAGR Calculator

Enter what you put in, what it is worth now, and how long you held it. This returns the total return, the compound annual growth rate with and without dividends, and what the same money would have done at a rate you choose.

$
$
Market value today, before dividends.
yrs
Fractions are fine, so 18 months is 1.5.
$
Total cash paid out over the whole period.
%
Your assumption for comparison. It is not a forecast.

Total-return CAGR

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Enter your numbers to calculate.

Total return, price only
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Total return with dividends
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Price-only CAGR
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Profit in dollars
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Years used
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Ending value at benchmark
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Difference vs benchmark
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Rule of 72 doubling time
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Exact doubling time
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Everything is worked out in your browser. Nothing you type is sent anywhere or stored.

What CAGR measures

Compound annual growth rate is the constant yearly rate that connects a starting value to an ending value. Markets never deliver a constant rate, so CAGR is a smoothed summary. Its value is that it lets you compare a three year holding with an eleven year one on the same scale, which raw percentage gains cannot do.

The formula has one moving part:

CAGR = (Ending value / Starting value)^(1 / Years) - 1

The worked example behind the defaults

The calculator loads with $10,000 growing to $24,000 over eight years, with $1,850 of dividends collected along the way. Price alone gives a total return of 140%, because $14,000 of gain on $10,000 invested is 1.4 times the original stake. Annualized:

(24,000 / 10,000)^(1/8) - 1 = 2.4^0.125 - 1 = 0.1156

That is a price-only CAGR of 11.56%. Add the dividends to the ending value and the same arithmetic runs on $25,850 instead of $24,000, giving a total return of 158.50% and a total-return CAGR of 12.60%. The income was worth just over one percentage point a year, which is the sort of gap that decides whether a dividend payer looks like a laggard or a winner. The dividend investing guide covers why that gap widens with time.

Reading the benchmark row

The benchmark field is an assumption you choose, and it defaults to 10% only because it is a familiar round number. At 10% a year, $10,000 becomes $21,435.89 after eight years. The example position ended at $25,850 including dividends, so it beat the assumed rate by $4,414.11. Change the benchmark to the return of a fund you actually own and the comparison becomes useful rather than decorative. If you want to see what an index fund would have charged you along the way, the index funds guide explains how fees eat into that figure.

Doubling time and the Rule of 72

Divide 72 by the CAGR expressed in whole percentage points and you get an approximate doubling time. At 12.60% the shortcut gives 5.71 years. The exact answer uses logarithms:

Years to double = ln(2) / ln(1 + CAGR) = 0.6931 / 0.1186 = 5.84 years

The shortcut runs a little fast at high rates and a little slow at low ones, and it is at its best between roughly 6% and 15%. The Rule of 72 calculator shows both figures across a wider range of rates.

Where the number stops being honest

CAGR ignores anything you added or withdrew after the first day. If you bought more on the way down, your money-weighted return is different from the number here, sometimes by a wide margin. It also ignores tax and inflation. A 12.60% nominal CAGR through a period of 3% inflation is closer to 9.3% in purchasing power, and the inflation-adjusted return calculator does that conversion. For regular contributions rather than a lump sum, the dollar-cost averaging calculator models the pattern properly, and measuring portfolio risk covers the statistics that belong next to a growth rate.

Frequently asked questions

What is CAGR?

CAGR is the compound annual growth rate. It is the single smooth annual rate that would take your starting value to your ending value over the holding period. Real returns arrive in a jagged sequence, so CAGR is a summary of the journey rather than a description of any individual year.

Is CAGR the same as average annual return?

No. A simple average adds the yearly returns and divides by the number of years. CAGR compounds them. A stock that gains 50% then loses 50% has an average return of zero but a CAGR of about minus 13.4%, because you end with 75 cents on the dollar.

Should dividends be included in the CAGR?

Include them if you want to know what the investment paid you. Price-only CAGR measures the share price alone and understates the return on any dividend payer. This calculator shows both figures so you can see the gap that income creates over the holding period.

What does the Rule of 72 tell me?

Divide 72 by the annual percentage return and you get a close estimate of the years needed to double your money. At 12.6% a year the shortcut says 5.7 years and the exact logarithm says 5.8 years. The shortcut is most accurate for rates between roughly 6% and 15%.

Why is my CAGR negative when I made money?

That usually means the ending value you entered is below the starting value while the gain came from dividends you did not add in the optional field. Enter total dividends received and the total-return CAGR will pick them up.

Does CAGR account for money added along the way?

It does not. CAGR assumes one lump sum in at the start and one value out at the end. If you contributed regularly, the number you want is a money-weighted return such as IRR, and the dollar-cost averaging calculator is a closer fit for projecting that pattern.