— Stock Market
Stock Return Calculator
Calculate total and annualized stock return from buy price, sell or current price, and holding period. Add dividends, taxes, inflation, and a benchmark to see net return, real return, CAGR, and whether you beat the market.
Total return
50%
- Annualized return (CAGR)
- 14.47%
- Absolute gain / loss
- $50
- Price return only
- 50%
Try: $100 → $150 over 3 years, Total return with dividends, After-tax & real return, vs a 10% benchmark
— Value over the holding period
| Year | Value |
|---|---|
| 0 | $100 |
| 1 | $114 |
| 2 | $131 |
| 3 | $150 |
— Value over time
Download— How it works
Total return = (sell − buy + dividends − charges) ÷ buy. CAGR = (end value ÷ start value)^(1 ÷ years) − 1. Real return ≈ (1 + CAGR) ÷ (1 + inflation) − 1; after-tax applies your rate to the gain.
Total return, not just the price
The headline number most people quote — how much the price went up — misses a big part of the story: dividends. Total return adds them in: (sell − buy + dividends) ÷ buy. A stock that rose 50% and paid another 10% in dividends returned 60%, not 50%. The calculator splits the two so you can see how much came from price and how much from income — for many steady, dividend-paying stocks, the dividend slice is a surprisingly large share of the long-run return.
Worked example — bought at $100, now $150, held 3 years, $10 of dividends: Total return = (150 − 100 + 10) ÷ 100 = 60%. Of that, 50 points are price and 10 are dividends. Annualized, that 60% over three years is a CAGR of about 17% a year.
Why annualize
A 60% total return sounds great — but over how long? Annualizing to a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) puts every investment on the same footing: 60% over 3 years is ~17% a year, while the same 60% over 10 years is under 5%. CAGR is the rate that, compounded each year, turns your start value into your end value, and it’s the number to compare against savings rates, other stocks and a benchmark. Add a benchmark’s annual return and the calculator shows your alpha — how many points you beat or trailed it by.
After tax and after inflation
Two adjustments separate a headline return from what you really earned. Tax takes a slice of the gain, so the after-tax CAGR is lower. And inflation erodes purchasing power: a 17% nominal return with 3% inflation is about a 13.4% real return — what your wealth actually grew in today’s-money terms. For long holds, the real, after-tax figure is the honest one. This is the percentage-and-annualized companion to the Stock Profit/Loss calculator, which gives the money amount; use that for the rupee/dollar P&L and this for the rate. Not investment advice.
— Reader questions
How do I calculate total return on a stock?
Add the price gain and the dividends, then divide by what you paid: (sell − buy + dividends) ÷ buy. A $100 stock now worth $150 that paid $10 in dividends returned 60%.
What is CAGR and why use it?
The compound annual growth rate — the steady yearly rate that turns your start value into your end value. It lets you compare returns over different time periods: 60% over 3 years is ~17% a year; over 10 years it’s under 5%.
What’s the difference between price return and total return?
Price return counts only the change in the share price; total return also includes dividends. For dividend-paying stocks the difference is large over time, which is why total return is the fairer measure.
What is a real return?
The return after inflation — your gain in purchasing power. A 17% nominal CAGR with 3% inflation is roughly a 13.4% real return. It’s the most honest measure of how much wealthier you actually got.
How is this different from the Stock Profit/Loss calculator?
This one gives the return as a percentage and an annualized rate (CAGR); the Stock Profit/Loss calculator gives the gain as a money amount with charges and capital-gains tax. Use whichever answer you need — or both.