Backtest: Buy and Hold WMT (Walmart Inc.)

This analysis evaluates a buy-and-hold strategy over the past 53 years, providing a historical perspective on WMT's performance from 1972-08-25 to 2025-07-03.

Note: This simulation uses adjusted close prices, meaning all historical prices have been retroactively adjusted for splits and dividends. To achieve similar results in practice, you would need to reinvest all dividends automatically as they are paid.

Performance Overview

Starting with an initial capital of $10,000.00, we purchased shares of WMT on 1972-08-25, at a price of $0.01 per share (adjusted for splits and dividends). No trading, no adjustments — just a simple buy-and-hold approach.

We held the position continuously through every market twist and turn, never selling. As of 2025-07-03, the price of WMT had risen to $98.36. While we didn't sell, we can still assess the performance by calculating the current value of the investment: $84,948,360.10 — a total gain of 849,383.60%.

This translates into an annualized return of 18.67% over the entire period. The return is strong and meaningfully higher than long-term market averages. It suggests effective asset selection or strategy execution during a favorable environment.

Drawdown and Risk

The maximum drawdown recorded during this period was 77.00%. This drawdown began after a peak price of $0.01 on 1972-11-27, and reached its lowest point on 1974-12-10 when the price fell to $0.00. The drawdown lasted for 743 days.

The drawdown was very large, indicating high sensitivity to adverse market conditions. Strategies with this profile may offer strong upside but require enduring deep declines. The maximum drawdown lasted over two years, reflecting a prolonged period of market weakness or asset-specific decline. Recovery from such drawdowns can be psychologically and financially difficult.

The Calmar Ratio — annualized return divided by maximum drawdown — was 0.24, reflecting the tradeoff between return and volatility.

This level is typical for diversified investments that face substantial drawdowns alongside steady long-term returns.