Stock Return Calculator

Absolute return is total profit divided by what you invested, with no reference to time. Annualized return, or CAGR, converts that into an equivalent steady yearly rate. A 58% absolute gain over three years is 16.57% annualized; the same 58% over twelve years is about 3.9%. Only the annualized figure lets you compare investments held for different lengths of time.

Per share, matching the buy and sell price fields. Add up the dividend per share received across your entire holding period — a stock paying $0.60 quarterly held two years is 4.80. If you enter your dollar total instead, it will be multiplied by your share count and inflate the result substantially.

Yes. The percentage you enter is applied to the purchase, raising your cost basis, and again to the sale, reducing your proceeds. That is why the reported Investment is higher than price × shares. Total Brokerage shows both legs combined.

Most major US brokers charge $0 commission on stock trades, so 0 is often correct. Enter a figure if your platform charges a percentage, if you are trading through a fund or advisor who does, or if you want to see what a percentage-fee platform costs you. The default of 0.5% is illustrative, not a recommendation.

Use decimals — divide days held by 365. Eighteen months is 1.5, and 200 days is about 0.55. Rounding up to the next whole year understates your annualized return, and the distortion is largest on short holdings where the exponent is most sensitive.

Yes, and it compounds the same way gains do. A 31% loss over two years is −16.95% a year, not −15.5%, because the second year's decline applies to an already reduced balance. The calculator handles losses normally; a total wipeout would approach −100%.

Usually one of three things: brokerage on both legs, a holding period longer than you assumed, or the compounding maths itself. Doubling your money in seven years is only about 10.4% a year, not 14% — compounding means the annual rate needed for a given total is lower than dividing would suggest.

Not for an accurate figure. This tool assumes one purchase and one sale, so averaging several buys loses the timing that matters. Use the XIRR calculator instead, which takes each dated cash flow. For just your blended entry price, the stock average calculator will give you that.

No — results are pre-tax. In a US taxable account, gains on positions held a year or less are taxed as ordinary income, while longer holdings receive preferential long-term capital gains rates. Dividends may be qualified or ordinary. In an IRA or 401(k) the distinction does not apply. This is general information, not tax advice.

Judge it against the alternative you actually had. US large-cap stocks have compounded at roughly 10% nominal over the long run, so beating that consistently is genuinely difficult. Anything below the ~4.0–4.5% available in a high-yield savings account as of August 2026 means you took equity risk without being paid for it.

No. Enter the current market price as the sell price and it becomes an unrealized return — what you would have made liquidating today. Just remember the result is not locked in, and that selling would trigger brokerage and possibly tax that an unrealized position has not yet incurred.

Because buy-side brokerage is included. At 0.5%, 100 shares at $100 costs $10,050, not $10,000. This is the correct basis for measuring return — the fee was money you had to spend to own the position, so counting it makes your percentage honest.