Stock Return Calculator
Calculate your total return, annualized return (CAGR), and profit on a stock — including dividends — over your holding period.
Add a holding period to see the annualized return (CAGR). Leave it blank for the simple total return.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does this include dividends?
Yes. Enter the total dividends you received and they are added to your proceeds, so the total return reflects both price gains and dividend income.
What is annualized return?
It is the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of your investment over the holding period — the steady yearly rate that would turn your cost into your final proceeds.
Can I enter dates instead of years?
Yes. Switch to the Dates option and enter your buy and sell dates, and the calculator works out the holding period for you. Or just type the number of years.
Understanding the Stock Return Calculator
The Stock Return Calculator measures how much money an investment in a stock actually made — not just on paper, but as a percentage and an annual rate. Enter your buy price, sell price, number of shares, and any dividends you collected, and it shows your total return, your profit or loss in cash, and your annualized return (CAGR) over the time you held the position. Because it folds dividends into the result, it captures your true total return rather than price movement alone. It is fully client-side and currency-aware, so the figures display in your chosen currency with no data ever leaving your browser.
How it works
First the tool works out your cost basis: buy price multiplied by the number of shares. Then it builds your proceeds: sell price times shares, plus every dividend you received. Profit is simply proceeds minus cost, and total return is that profit divided by your cost, shown as a percentage. If you supply a holding period — either a number of years or a buy and sell date — it also computes the annualized return, the steady yearly rate that compounds your cost into your proceeds. The tool separately reports the price-only return and the dividend contribution so you can see exactly how much of your gain came from reinvested income versus share appreciation.
Worked example
Suppose you buy 50 shares at $100 each, a $5,000 cost. Three years later you sell at $140 a share ($7,000) and you collected $250 in dividends along the way. Your proceeds are $7,250, so your profit is $2,250. Total return is $2,250 / $5,000 = 45%. Spread over three years, the annualized return (CAGR) is ($7,250 / $5,000)^(1/3) - 1, about 13.2% per year. Of the 45% total, dividends contributed 5 percentage points and price growth supplied the remaining 40%.
Tips & common mistakes
- Always include dividends — for income stocks they can add several percentage points to your true total return.
- Use the annualized return (CAGR) to compare holdings fairly: a 45% gain over three years is very different from 45% in one year.
- Switch to the Dates option and let the tool count the exact holding period instead of estimating the years yourself.
- Total return here is pre-tax — capital gains and dividend taxes vary by country and will reduce what you actually keep.
- This measures a single buy-and-sell trade; for regular contributions over time, a SIP or dollar-cost-averaging calculator gives a more accurate picture.
- Compare your annualized return against a benchmark like the S&P 500 to judge whether the position truly beat the market.
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Reviewed by the TopOpenTools editorial team · Last updated June 2026. These tools provide general estimates for educational purposes only and are not financial, tax, insurance, investment, or medical advice. Verify important decisions with a qualified professional.