VanEck Vectors-Africa Index ETF (AFK)

TotalReturn:

'Total return, when measuring performance, is the actual rate of return of an investment or a pool of investments over a given evaluation period. Total return includes interest, capital gains, dividends and distributions realized over a given period of time. Total return accounts for two categories of return: income including interest paid by fixed-income investments, distributions or dividends and capital appreciation, representing the change in the market price of an asset.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (75.3%) in the period of the last 5 years, the total return, or increase in value of 35.6% of VanEck Vectors-Africa Index ETF is lower, thus worse.
• Looking at total return, or performance in of 67.8% in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively greater, thus better in comparison to SPY (66.5%).

CAGR:

'Compound annual growth rate (CAGR) is a business and investing specific term for the geometric progression ratio that provides a constant rate of return over the time period. CAGR is not an accounting term, but it is often used to describe some element of the business, for example revenue, units delivered, registered users, etc. CAGR dampens the effect of volatility of periodic returns that can render arithmetic means irrelevant. It is particularly useful to compare growth rates from various data sets of common domain such as revenue growth of companies in the same industry.'

• Looking at the annual performance (CAGR) of 6.3% in the last 5 years of VanEck Vectors-Africa Index ETF, we see it is relatively smaller, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (11.9%)
• Looking at annual performance (CAGR) in of 18.9% in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively larger, thus better in comparison to SPY (18.6%).

Volatility:

'Volatility is a statistical measure of the dispersion of returns for a given security or market index. Volatility can either be measured by using the standard deviation or variance between returns from that same security or market index. Commonly, the higher the volatility, the riskier the security. In the securities markets, volatility is often associated with big swings in either direction. For example, when the stock market rises and falls more than one percent over a sustained period of time, it is called a 'volatile' market.'

• Looking at the 30 days standard deviation of 21.6% in the last 5 years of VanEck Vectors-Africa Index ETF, we see it is relatively larger, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (17%)
• During the last 3 years, the historical 30 days volatility is 23.2%, which is larger, thus worse than the value of 15.1% from the benchmark.

DownVol:

'Risk measures typically quantify the downside risk, whereas the standard deviation (an example of a deviation risk measure) measures both the upside and downside risk. Specifically, downside risk in our definition is the semi-deviation, that is the standard deviation of all negative returns.'

• Looking at the downside deviation of 15.5% in the last 5 years of VanEck Vectors-Africa Index ETF, we see it is relatively greater, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (11.8%)
• Compared with SPY (10.1%) in the period of the last 3 years, the downside risk of 16.6% is larger, thus worse.

Sharpe:

'The Sharpe ratio is the measure of risk-adjusted return of a financial portfolio. Sharpe ratio is a measure of excess portfolio return over the risk-free rate relative to its standard deviation. Normally, the 90-day Treasury bill rate is taken as the proxy for risk-free rate. A portfolio with a higher Sharpe ratio is considered superior relative to its peers. The measure was named after William F Sharpe, a Nobel laureate and professor of finance, emeritus at Stanford University.'

• The risk / return profile (Sharpe) over 5 years of VanEck Vectors-Africa Index ETF is 0.18, which is smaller, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (0.55) in the same period.
• During the last 3 years, the ratio of return and volatility (Sharpe) is 0.71, which is smaller, thus worse than the value of 1.06 from the benchmark.

Sortino:

'The Sortino ratio, a variation of the Sharpe ratio only factors in the downside, or negative volatility, rather than the total volatility used in calculating the Sharpe ratio. The theory behind the Sortino variation is that upside volatility is a plus for the investment, and it, therefore, should not be included in the risk calculation. Therefore, the Sortino ratio takes upside volatility out of the equation and uses only the downside standard deviation in its calculation instead of the total standard deviation that is used in calculating the Sharpe ratio.'

• The downside risk / excess return profile over 5 years of VanEck Vectors-Africa Index ETF is 0.25, which is lower, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (0.8) in the same period.
• During the last 3 years, the ratio of annual return and downside deviation is 0.99, which is smaller, thus worse than the value of 1.59 from the benchmark.

Ulcer:

'The Ulcer Index is a technical indicator that measures downside risk, in terms of both the depth and duration of price declines. The index increases in value as the price moves farther away from a recent high and falls as the price rises to new highs. The indicator is usually calculated over a 14-day period, with the Ulcer Index showing the percentage drawdown a trader can expect from the high over that period. The greater the value of the Ulcer Index, the longer it takes for a stock to get back to the former high.'

• Looking at the Ulcer Ratio of 21 in the last 5 years of VanEck Vectors-Africa Index ETF, we see it is relatively greater, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (8.44 )
• Looking at Ulcer Index in of 8.39 in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively greater, thus worse in comparison to SPY (3.49 ).

MaxDD:

'Maximum drawdown measures the loss in any losing period during a fund’s investment record. It is defined as the percent retrenchment from a fund’s peak value to the fund’s valley value. The drawdown is in effect from the time the fund’s retrenchment begins until a new fund high is reached. The maximum drawdown encompasses both the period from the fund’s peak to the fund’s valley (length), and the time from the fund’s valley to a new fund high (recovery). It measures the largest percentage drawdown that has occurred in any fund’s data record.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (-24.5 days) in the period of the last 5 years, the maximum reduction from previous high of -38.6 days of VanEck Vectors-Africa Index ETF is smaller, thus worse.
• Compared with SPY (-18.8 days) in the period of the last 3 years, the maximum drop from peak to valley of -20.4 days is lower, thus worse.

MaxDuration:

'The Drawdown Duration is the length of any peak to peak period, or the time between new equity highs. The Max Drawdown Duration is the worst (the maximum/longest) amount of time an investment has seen between peaks (equity highs) in days.'

• Looking at the maximum days below previous high of 1035 days in the last 5 years of VanEck Vectors-Africa Index ETF, we see it is relatively greater, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (488 days)
• Looking at maximum days under water in of 276 days in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively higher, thus worse in comparison to SPY (87 days).

AveDuration:

'The Drawdown Duration is the length of any peak to peak period, or the time between new equity highs. The Avg Drawdown Duration is the average amount of time an investment has seen between peaks (equity highs), or in other terms the average of time under water of all drawdowns. So in contrast to the Maximum duration it does not measure only one drawdown event but calculates the average of all.'

• Looking at the average days below previous high of 451 days in the last 5 years of VanEck Vectors-Africa Index ETF, we see it is relatively greater, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (119 days)
• Looking at average days below previous high in of 73 days in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively higher, thus worse in comparison to SPY (20 days).