The Qantas Airways Limited (ASX: QAN) share price has travelled higher over the past decade, up around 70%. However, this figure could have been much higher if not for COVID-19.
During late December 2019, the Qantas share price was hovering above the $7.30 mark, before freefalling thereafter. While the airline's shares have somewhat recovered, they are still a long way off those previous levels.
Nonetheless, we wind the clock back and see how much an investor would have made if they had invested $1,000 in Qantas shares a decade ago.
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How much would your initial investment be worth now?
If you spent $1,000 on Qantas shares exactly 10 years ago, you would have picked them up for $1.615 apiece. The purchase would deliver approximately 619 shares without reinvesting the dividends.
Looking at yesterday's closing price, the Qantas share price finished at $5.34. This means those 619 shares would be worth $3,305.46 (619 shares x $5.34).
In percentage terms, the initial investment implies a gain of around 230.54% or a yearly average return of 12.70%. Comparing that to the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO), the index has given back 5.84% over a 10-year period.
And the dividends?
Over the course of the last decade, Qantas has made a total of 8 bi-annual dividend payments from 2015 to 2019. Its most recent dividend distributions have been suspended due to the pandemic severely affecting its operations and bottom line.
Adding those 8 dividends payments gives us an amount of 86 cents per share. Calculating the number of shares owned against the total dividend payment gives us a figure of $532.34 (619 shares x 0.86).
When putting both the initial investment gains and dividend distribution, an investor would have made roughly $3,837.80.
Qantas share price snapshot
Over the past 12 months, the Qantas share price has moved 30% higher and is up around 10% year to date.
Qantas presides a market capitalisation of roughly $10 billion, with more than 1.8 billion shares on its registry.
