iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF (AGG)

TotalReturn:

'Total return is the amount of value an investor earns from a security over a specific period, typically one year, when all distributions are reinvested. Total return is expressed as a percentage of the amount invested. For example, a total return of 20% means the security increased by 20% of its original value due to a price increase, distribution of dividends (if a stock), coupons (if a bond) or capital gains (if a fund). Total return is a strong measure of an investment’s overall performance.'

• Looking at the total return, or increase in value of -0.5% in the last 5 years of iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF, we see it is relatively smaller, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (61.3%)
• Compared with SPY (31.6%) in the period of the last 3 years, the total return of -8.8% is smaller, thus worse.

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.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (10%) in the period of the last 5 years, the annual return (CAGR) of -0.1% of iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF is lower, thus worse.
• Compared with SPY (9.6%) in the period of the last 3 years, the annual return (CAGR) of -3% is smaller, thus worse.

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.'

• The historical 30 days volatility over 5 years of iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF is 5.4%, which is smaller, thus better compared to the benchmark SPY (20.8%) in the same period.
• Looking at volatility in of 6.6% in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively lower, thus better in comparison to SPY (24%).

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.'

• The downside risk over 5 years of iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF is 4.2%, which is smaller, thus better compared to the benchmark SPY (15.3%) in the same period.
• During the last 3 years, the downside deviation is 5.2%, which is lower, thus better than the value of 17.6% from the benchmark.

Sharpe:

'The Sharpe ratio (also known as the Sharpe index, the Sharpe measure, and the reward-to-variability ratio) is a way to examine the performance of an investment by adjusting for its risk. The ratio measures the excess return (or risk premium) per unit of deviation in an investment asset or a trading strategy, typically referred to as risk, named after William F. Sharpe.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (0.36) in the period of the last 5 years, the ratio of return and volatility (Sharpe) of -0.48 of iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF is lower, thus worse.
• Looking at Sharpe Ratio in of -0.83 in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively lower, thus worse in comparison to SPY (0.3).

Sortino:

'The Sortino ratio measures the risk-adjusted return of an investment asset, portfolio, or strategy. It is a modification of the Sharpe ratio but penalizes only those returns falling below a user-specified target or required rate of return, while the Sharpe ratio penalizes both upside and downside volatility equally. Though both ratios measure an investment's risk-adjusted return, they do so in significantly different ways that will frequently lead to differing conclusions as to the true nature of the investment's return-generating efficiency. The Sortino ratio is used as a way to compare the risk-adjusted performance of programs with differing risk and return profiles. In general, risk-adjusted returns seek to normalize the risk across programs and then see which has the higher return unit per risk.'

• Looking at the excess return divided by the downside deviation of -0.62 in the last 5 years of iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF, we see it is relatively lower, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (0.49)
• During the last 3 years, the ratio of annual return and downside deviation is -1.06, which is lower, thus worse than the value of 0.4 from the benchmark.

Ulcer:

'The ulcer index is a stock market risk measure or technical analysis indicator devised by Peter Martin in 1987, and published by him and Byron McCann in their 1989 book The Investors Guide to Fidelity Funds. It's designed as a measure of volatility, but only volatility in the downward direction, i.e. the amount of drawdown or retracement occurring over a period. Other volatility measures like standard deviation treat up and down movement equally, but a trader doesn't mind upward movement, it's the downside that causes stress and stomach ulcers that the index's name suggests.'

• Looking at the Downside risk index of 4.21 in the last 5 years of iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF, we see it is relatively smaller, thus better in comparison to the benchmark SPY (7.61 )
• During the last 3 years, the Ulcer Index is 5.32 , which is smaller, thus better than the value of 8.93 from the benchmark.

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.'

• Looking at the maximum DrawDown of -17 days in the last 5 years of iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF, we see it is relatively higher, thus better in comparison to the benchmark SPY (-33.7 days)
• Compared with SPY (-33.7 days) in the period of the last 3 years, the maximum drop from peak to valley of -17 days is larger, thus better.

MaxDuration:

'The Maximum Drawdown Duration is an extension of the Maximum Drawdown. However, this metric does not explain the drawdown in dollars or percentages, rather in days, weeks, or months. It is the length of time the account was in the Max Drawdown. A Max Drawdown measures a retrenchment from when an equity curve reaches a new high. It’s the maximum an account lost during that retrenchment. This method is applied because a valley can’t be measured until a new high occurs. Once the new high is reached, the percentage change from the old high to the bottom of the largest trough is recorded.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (185 days) in the period of the last 5 years, the maximum days under water of 542 days of iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF is larger, thus worse.
• Compared with SPY (185 days) in the period of the last 3 years, the maximum days under water of 542 days is larger, thus worse.

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.'

• The average days below previous high over 5 years of iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF is 162 days, which is higher, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (46 days) in the same period.
• Compared with SPY (44 days) in the period of the last 3 years, the average time in days below previous high water mark of 214 days is larger, thus worse.