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Stock Return Calculator
This stock return calculator shows what you actually made on a share investment — not just the price rise. It adds the dividends you received, takes away brokerage and other charges, and gives you the net profit and the return percentage on your total cost. If you also enter the buy and sell dates, it works out the CAGR (the average yearly growth rate) so you can compare the trade fairly with an FD, a mutual fund or any other investment.
| Amount invested (buy price × shares) | |
| Brokerage & charges | |
| Total cost | |
| Sale value (sell price × shares) | |
| Dividends received | |
| Total received | |
| Net profit / loss | |
| Return on total cost | |
| CAGR (per year, from your dates) |
How to use this stock return calculator
- Enter the price you bought the share at and the price you sold at (or today's price if you still hold it).
- Add the number of shares, and the total dividends the shares paid you while you held them.
- Add up your brokerage and charges on both sides — buy and sell — and enter the total. Your broker's contract notes show these.
- Optionally, enter the buy and sell dates to get the CAGR as well.
- Read the net profit and the return percentage. The percentage is worked out on your total cost, including charges.
How stock return is calculated
The price rise alone flatters a trade. Three other things decide what you really earned: the dividends that came in while you held the shares, the charges that went out on both sides, and the time the money was locked up. This calculator brings all three in.
Note the base used for the percentage: your total cost including charges. That is the honest base, because the charges were real money out of your pocket. A trade that looks like a 37% gainer on price alone can be a little lower once brokerage, STT and DP charges are counted — and a small trade can be eaten up by charges entirely.
CAGR answers a different question: at what steady yearly rate did the money grow? A 36.90% return over six months is excellent; the same return over ten years is poor. CAGR = (Total received ÷ Total cost)1/years − 1, where the years come from your buy and sell dates. Compare CAGR with the return on an FD or index fund over the same period to judge whether the trade was worth the risk.
Worked example
You buy 100 shares at ₹250, later sell them at ₹340, receive ₹500 in dividends along the way, and pay ₹200 in total brokerage and charges.
- Amount invested = ₹250 × 100 = ₹25,000
- Total cost = ₹25,000 + ₹200 = ₹25,200
- Total received = (₹340 × 100) + ₹500 = ₹34,500
- Net profit = ₹34,500 − ₹25,200 = ₹9,300
- Return = ₹9,300 ÷ ₹25,200 × 100 = 36.90%
If those shares were held for exactly two years, the same figures give a CAGR of about 17.01% per year — a fair number to hold up against a mutual fund's returns over the same two years. Enter the dates in the calculator and it shows the CAGR for your exact holding period.
What the sell price does to your return
Same trade as above — 100 shares bought at ₹250, ₹500 dividends, ₹200 charges — at different sell prices:
| Sell price | Net profit / loss | Return on cost |
|---|---|---|
| ₹200 | −₹4,700 | −18.65% |
| ₹250 | ₹300 | 1.19% |
| ₹300 | ₹5,300 | 21.03% |
| ₹340 | ₹9,300 | 36.90% |
| ₹400 | ₹15,300 | 60.71% |
| ₹500 | ₹25,300 | 100.40% |
Look at the ₹250 row: selling at exactly your buy price still leaves a small profit, because the ₹500 dividend was bigger than the ₹200 charges. Dividends and charges are small lines, but on close trades they decide whether you made money at all.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between return % and CAGR?
Return % is the total gain over the whole holding period: profit divided by total cost, times 100. CAGR spreads that gain evenly across the years you held the investment, so it is a per-year figure. A 36.90% return over two years is a CAGR of about 17.01% per year. Use return % to see what a trade made in total, and CAGR to compare investments held for different lengths of time.
Which charges should I include?
Add up everything you paid on both sides of the trade: brokerage on the buy and the sell, STT (securities transaction tax), exchange charges, SEBI charges, stamp duty, DP (demat) charges on the sell, and GST on the brokerage. Your broker shows all of these in the contract note for each trade — adding the totals from the buy note and the sell note gives you the figure to enter.
Are dividends really part of the return?
Yes. A dividend is cash the company paid you for holding the share, so it is part of what the investment earned. This matters most for high-dividend shares, where the price may move very little but regular dividends add up. The calculator includes the total dividends you enter in both the profit and the return percentage.
What if the share price fell?
Then the calculator shows a loss: the net profit is negative and so is the return percentage. Dividends still count on the plus side, so a falling share that paid good dividends loses less than the price drop alone suggests. The result table shows every line, so you can see exactly how much of the loss came from the price and how much the dividends covered.
Does this calculator show my tax on the gains?
No. It works out your profit before tax. Capital gains tax — short-term or long-term, depending on how long you held the shares and the current rules — is charged on the profit and would reduce what you finally keep. Check the profit figure here, then apply the tax rules that fit your holding period, or use the capital gains tax calculator linked below.
What if the share had a split or bonus issue?
Adjust the prices yourself before entering them. After a 1:1 bonus, for example, you hold twice as many shares, so halve the buy price per share and double the quantity — or simply enter the total buy value through the price and quantity fields so the totals match what you actually paid and received. The calculator works from the totals, so any adjustment that keeps the totals right gives the right profit.