wrench How it Works

Here’s a fictional example** of how the ESPP works.

Meet Rick, an employee at ABC Company. He enrolled in the ESPP in November 2014 and chose to contribute 4% of his eligible pay—$50,000. His $2,000 annual election divided by 4 equaled $500 per quarterly offering period.

First offering period
The first quarterly ESPP offering period was January 1, 2015–March 31, 2015, and the closing price was $23.53 per share. At the end of the quarter: Rick bought ABC stock at a 15% discount on the closing stock price. His purchase price was $20 and his $500 ESPP contribution bought 25 shares of ABC stock.

At time of sale
When Rick decided to sell his ABC stock, the stock price was $25.88 and he received $647.00. Rick also received dividends of $1 per share or an additional $25. That’s a total profit of $172 on his initial investment of $500.

This shows Rick’s profit for stock purchased during just one quarterly offering period. He continued to participate, collecting dividends and watching his savings grow.

**This simple example is for illustrative purposes only and is not intended to predict the future returns for Sysco stock or any other investment.