Calculate your total profit or loss on any stock investment, including dividends. See your percentage return and annualized performance.
Did you actually make money on that investment? It's not just about the price change — dividends, number of shares, and how long you held it all affect your real return. This calculator gives you the complete picture: total profit or loss, percentage return, and annualized return so you can compare different investments on equal terms.
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Raw profit and loss numbers tell only part of the story. To make smart investing decisions, you need to understand your returns in context — especially how they compare to what you could have earned elsewhere, and whether they kept pace with inflation.
A 40% total return sounds great — but if it took 10 years, that's only about 3.4% per year, which barely keeps pace with inflation. Meanwhile, a 20% gain in 2 years works out to roughly 9.5% annualized — far better. Always compare on an annualized basis.
Many investors only track price change and forget about dividends. For dividend-paying stocks, total return = price appreciation + dividends received. For long-term investors in dividend-focused stocks, dividends can account for 30–50% of total returns over decades. This calculator includes dividends in the total return calculation so you get the complete picture.
Trading commissions, management fees, and other costs directly reduce your return. While most major brokerages now offer $0 commission trades, other costs — like fund expense ratios, options contract fees, and spread costs — still add up. The lower your fees, the more of the return you keep.
The S&P 500 has averaged roughly 10% annually before inflation and 7% after inflation over the long run. A good return is one that beats your benchmark (the market index most comparable to your investment) on a risk-adjusted basis. For most individual investors, consistently matching a broad index through low-cost funds is an excellent outcome.
In the US, gains on stocks held for more than one year are taxed as long-term capital gains (0%, 15%, or 20% depending on your income). Stocks held for one year or less are taxed as short-term capital gains at your ordinary income tax rate. Dividends are taxed either as qualified dividends (lower rate) or ordinary income depending on how long you held the stock.
Unrealized gains are paper profits on investments you still hold — you don't owe taxes until you sell. Realized gains occur when you actually sell the investment. This calculator assumes you've sold the position (realized gain), but the same math applies to calculate the current value of an unrealized position.