Stock Return Calculator

About this calculator

Total stock return captures the full picture of an investment's performance by combining capital gains (the change in share price) with dividends received along the way, rather than looking at price movement alone. The formula is (ending price − starting price + dividends) / starting price, expressed as a percentage — and it's the standard way analysts and index providers calculate 'total return' versus a bare price return.

Investors use total return to fairly compare stocks with different dividend policies: a slow-growing but high-dividend stock can outperform a fast-growing non-dividend payer on a total-return basis even if its price chart looks flatter. It's also the basis for total-return indices (like the S&P 500 Total Return Index) which reinvest dividends, versus price-only indices that don't.

This calculator takes your purchase price, current price, and dividends received and returns your total stock return.