Annualized Return (CAGR) Calculator

Annualized Return (CAGR) Calculator iCompound Annual Growth Rate. The constant annual rate that turns the starting value into the ending value over a given number of years.

Load Final value from a stock ticker iType a stock ticker and we'll fill in today's price as the Final value. You'll still enter Initial value and Years yourself, since they depend on when YOU bought. — On this page, autofill only sets the Final value (today's price). Initial value and Years stay manual - they depend on the date and price when you originally bought. — Today's price comes from the same public market feed used across YieldChampion. Refresh re-fetches on demand.

Loading a ticker autofills only Final value. Initial value and Years stay manual until historical-price autofill ships.

CAGR iThe single annual rate that, compounded yearly, turns your initial value into your final value over the years entered. Useful for comparing investments of different lengths.: -
Total return iFinal value minus initial value, expressed as a percent of the initial. Different from CAGR - total return ignores how long it took.: -
Methodology & full breakdown

Formula

CAGR = (final / initial)^(1 / years) - 1; total_return = (final - initial) / initial.

Inputs & sources

Initial value
Manual entry. Loaded ticker (if any) is informational only - it does not affect this calculation in Phase A.
Final value
Manual entry, or autofilled from /api/quote when a ticker is loaded.
Years
Manual entry. Loaded ticker (if any) is informational only - it does not affect this calculation in Phase A.

Modeling assumptions

  • Point-to-point only (not rolling).
  • No intermediate cash flows (no contributions, no withdrawals, no dividends).
  • Result is hyper-sensitive to start/end dates.

Limitations

  • Phase A: only Final value is autofilled from a ticker. Initial value requires historical price data (deferred).
How It Works - How is CAGR calculated?

The Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) is the smooth, fixed annual rate that would produce the same end value as a real investment with a bumpy, year-to-year return.

The formula is straightforward: CAGR = (final / initial)^(1 / years) - 1. So a portfolio that grew from $10,000 to $25,937 over 10 years had a 10.0% CAGR, because 10000 * 1.10^10 = 25,937.

Why CAGR instead of an arithmetic average? Imagine a stock that goes up 100% in year 1 and down 50% in year 2. The arithmetic average is +25% per year - but you are actually back to where you started ($10k -> $20k -> $10k). The CAGR is 0%. CAGR is always the right number for comparing investments because it accounts for the compounding of losses as well as gains.

CAGR has two important limitations. First, it hides volatility - two investments with the same CAGR can have very different drawdowns along the way. Second, it is sensitive to start and end dates. A bull-market peak start and a bear-market trough end will show a depressed CAGR; the reverse will show an inflated one. Always look at long horizons (10+ years) and consider rolling-period CAGRs rather than a single point-to-point figure.

For dividend stocks specifically, the dividend CAGR is often more telling than the share-price CAGR. A company that has grown its dividend at 8% per year for two decades has demonstrated something fundamental about its earnings power - and that is exactly the input the per-stock pages on this site use to project future yield-on-cost.

Not financial advice. For informational and educational purposes only. Numbers come from public market data and may be stale. Always consult a licensed financial advisor before making investment decisions.