Transcript 0:00 Welcome to the Investing Wise Academy podcast, where we look at what steady, long-term investing could have done with real stocks. I'm glad you're here. Today's stock is Marathon Petroleum, ticker MPC. Here's the hook. 0:14 If you had put ten thousand dollars into Marathon Petroleum on November third, twenty twenty-one, that money would have grown to about sixty-nine thousand eight hundred and forty dollars by the close on October thirtieth, twenty twenty-six. 0:28 That's price only with no dividends, fees, or taxes, and it's an example, not a forecast. Let's walk through three key points. Point one, the five-year growth. 0:39 Marathon Petroleum closed at sixty-three dollars and sixty-eight cents on November third, twenty twenty-one. On October thirtieth, twenty twenty-six, it closed at four hundred forty-four dollars and seventy-three cents. 0:52 That's a price gain of about five hundred and ninety-eight percent, roughly seven times, or about forty-seven and a half percent a year compounded. 1:01 With dividends reinvested, the total return was about six hundred and eighty percent. Point two, what steady buying could have done. 1:10 Imagine setting aside five hundred dollars a month and buying on a fixed schedule, a method called dollar cost averaging. Over five years, that's sixty buys and thirty thousand dollars in total. 1:22 In that example, the thirty thousand would have been worth about ninety-seven thousand seven hundred dollars at the October thirtieth close, about three and a quarter times the money put in. 1:32 No timing the market, just a plan you stick to. Point three, prices can pause even when results are strong. 1:40 In its second quarter release on August fourth, Marathon Petroleum reported net income of five point one billion dollars, or seventeen dollars and seventy-three cents per diluted share, and adjusted EBITDA of eight and a half billion dollars. 1:54 Yet the stock's highest close of the past year was four hundred eighty-four dollars and ninety-two cents on October fourteenth, and by October thirtieth, it sat about eight point three percent below that. 2:06 Profit and price don't always move together, and past pace rarely continues. One more thing to watch. Marathon Petroleum reports its third quarter results on November third. 2:18 The bigger lesson for busy investors is simple: Don't buy a stock just because it has fallen, and don't chase one just because it has soared. 2:26 Track the business, the cash it generates, and the price you're paying, and let a steady plan do the heavy lifting. This podcast is for educational purposes only and is not financial advice. 2:39 Thanks for listening to the Investing Wise Academy podcast. For the full breakdown, charts, and more five-year stories like this one, subscribe for free at wiseinvesting.com. See you in the next episode.
