Stock CAGR Calculator
CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) tells you the smoothed, annualized rate at which your stock investment has grown — far more useful for comparing stocks held over different time periods than a simple absolute return figure. Our Stock CAGR Calculator goes a step further than most by calculating two versions: Price CAGR, based purely on share price movement, and Total Return CAGR, which also factors in any dividends you received along the way.
Enter your buy price, sell (or current) price, the number of shares, any total dividends received, and your holding period. The calculator shows your initial investment, final value, and both CAGR figures side by side.
Stock CAGR Calculator Formula
Price CAGR uses only the change in share price, ignoring any dividends:
Price CAGR = [ (Sell Price ÷ Buy Price)^(1/n) − 1 ] × 100
Total Return CAGR adds the dividends received to the final value before calculating the annualized growth rate, giving a fuller picture of what the stock actually returned:
Total Return CAGR = [ ( (Final Price Value + Total Dividends) ÷ Initial Investment )^(1/n) − 1 ] × 100
- n = Holding period in years
- Initial Investment = Buy Price × Quantity
- Final Price Value = Sell Price × Quantity
This treats total dividends received as a single lump added to the final value rather than individually compounding each dividend from its payment date — a simplification that works well for a quick comparison, though a more precise dividend-reinvestment calculation would track each payout's own compounding period separately.
Example Calculation
Suppose you bought 100 shares at ₹200 each, and 5 years later they're worth ₹450 each, having also paid out a total of ₹5,000 in dividends over that period.
- Buy Price: ₹200 | Sell/Current Price: ₹450 | Quantity: 100 shares
- Total Dividends Received: ₹5,000
- Holding Period: 5 years
| Type | Details |
|---|---|
| Initial Investment | ₹20,000 |
| Final Value (Price Only) | ₹45,000 |
| Price CAGR | 17.61% |
| Final Value (incl. Dividends) | ₹50,000 |
| Total Return CAGR | 20.11% |
Looking only at the share price, this stock delivered a 17.61% CAGR. But once you include the ₹5,000 in dividends received along the way, the Total Return CAGR rises to 20.11% — a meaningful 2.5 percentage point difference that price-only CAGR figures (which is what most stock screeners and news articles quote by default) would miss entirely.
FAQs about Stock CAGR Calculator
What is the difference between Price CAGR and Total Return CAGR?
Price CAGR measures only how much the share price itself grew annually. Total Return CAGR also includes dividends received during the holding period, giving a more complete picture of the stock's actual annualized return — especially important for dividend-paying stocks, where price CAGR alone can meaningfully understate total performance.
Why do most stock price charts and screeners only show price CAGR?
Because price data is readily available and standardized across all stocks, while dividend history requires separate tracking and varies in frequency and amount. Price CAGR is simpler to calculate and compare at scale, which is why it's the default figure shown, even though Total Return CAGR is the more accurate measure of what an investor actually earned.
How do I find the total dividends I've received from a stock?
Check your demat account statement or broker's dividend/corporate actions history, which typically lists every dividend credited to your account for each holding, along with the payment date — add these up over your holding period to get the total dividends figure for this calculator.
Does this calculator account for dividend reinvestment?
Not precisely. It adds your total dividends received as a lump sum to the final value, which is a reasonable approximation for comparison purposes, but doesn't account for the fact that dividends received earlier in your holding period would have had more time to compound if reinvested, compared to dividends received near the end.
Is CAGR the same as the stock's actual year-by-year return?
No. CAGR is a smoothed, theoretical annual growth rate that would take your investment from its starting value to its ending value if it grew at a constant rate every year — the stock's actual year-to-year returns were almost certainly more volatile, with some years higher and some lower than the CAGR figure suggests.
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