iShares MSCI EAFE ETF (EFA)

TotalReturn:

'The total return on a portfolio of investments takes into account not only the capital appreciation on the portfolio, but also the income received on the portfolio. The income typically consists of interest, dividends, and securities lending fees. This contrasts with the price return, which takes into account only the capital gain on an investment.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (115.6%) in the period of the last 5 years, the total return, or increase in value of 55.5% of iShares MSCI EAFE ETF is lower, thus worse.
• Looking at total return, or performance in of 10.4% in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively smaller, thus worse in comparison to SPY (43%).

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 (16.6%) in the period of the last 5 years, the annual performance (CAGR) of 9.2% of iShares MSCI EAFE ETF is lower, thus worse.
• Compared with SPY (12.6%) in the period of the last 3 years, the annual performance (CAGR) of 3.3% is lower, thus worse.

Volatility:

'Volatility is a rate at which the price of a security increases or decreases for a given set of returns. Volatility is measured by calculating the standard deviation of the annualized returns over a given period of time. It shows the range to which the price of a security may increase or decrease. Volatility measures the risk of a security. It is used in option pricing formula to gauge the fluctuations in the returns of the underlying assets. Volatility indicates the pricing behavior of the security and helps estimate the fluctuations that may happen in a short period of time.'

• Looking at the volatility of 18.3% in the last 5 years of iShares MSCI EAFE ETF, we see it is relatively smaller, thus better in comparison to the benchmark SPY (18.8%)
• Compared with SPY (22.8%) in the period of the last 3 years, the volatility of 20.8% is lower, thus better.

DownVol:

'Downside risk is the financial risk associated with losses. That is, it is the risk of the actual return being below the expected return, or the uncertainty about the magnitude of that difference. 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 risk of 13.8% in the last 5 years of iShares MSCI EAFE ETF, we see it is relatively larger, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (13.6%)
• Looking at downside risk in of 15.8% in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively lower, thus better in comparison to SPY (16.7%).

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.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (0.75) in the period of the last 5 years, the risk / return profile (Sharpe) of 0.37 of iShares MSCI EAFE ETF is lower, thus worse.
• Looking at ratio of return and volatility (Sharpe) in of 0.04 in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively lower, thus worse in comparison to SPY (0.44).

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 ratio of annual return and downside deviation of 0.49 in the last 5 years of iShares MSCI EAFE ETF, we see it is relatively smaller, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (1.04)
• During the last 3 years, the ratio of annual return and downside deviation is 0.05, which is lower, thus worse than the value of 0.61 from the benchmark.

Ulcer:

'Ulcer Index is a method for measuring investment risk that addresses the real concerns of investors, unlike the widely used standard deviation of return. UI is a measure of the depth and duration of drawdowns in prices from earlier highs. Using Ulcer Index instead of standard deviation can lead to very different conclusions about investment risk and risk-adjusted return, especially when evaluating strategies that seek to avoid major declines in portfolio value (market timing, dynamic asset allocation, hedge funds, etc.). The Ulcer Index was originally developed in 1987. Since then, it has been widely recognized and adopted by the investment community. According to Nelson Freeburg, editor of Formula Research, Ulcer Index is “perhaps the most fully realized statistical portrait of risk there is.'

• The Downside risk index over 5 years of iShares MSCI EAFE ETF is 8.75 , which is greater, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (5.59 ) in the same period.
• Looking at Ulcer Ratio in of 11 in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively larger, thus worse in comparison to SPY (7.14 ).

MaxDD:

'Maximum drawdown is defined as the peak-to-trough decline of an investment during a specific period. It is usually quoted as a percentage of the peak value. The maximum drawdown can be calculated based on absolute returns, in order to identify strategies that suffer less during market downturns, such as low-volatility strategies. However, the maximum drawdown can also be calculated based on returns relative to a benchmark index, for identifying strategies that show steady outperformance over time.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (-33.7 days) in the period of the last 5 years, the maximum DrawDown of -34.2 days of iShares MSCI EAFE ETF is lower, thus worse.
• Compared with SPY (-33.7 days) in the period of the last 3 years, the maximum DrawDown of -34.2 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). Many assume Max DD Duration is the length of time between new highs during which the Max DD (magnitude) occurred. But that isn’t always the case. The Max DD duration is the longest time between peaks, period. So it could be the time when the program also had its biggest peak to valley loss (and usually is, because the program needs a long time to recover from the largest loss), but it doesn’t have to be'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (139 days) in the period of the last 5 years, the maximum days under water of 706 days of iShares MSCI EAFE ETF is larger, thus worse.
• Looking at maximum days below previous high in of 706 days in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively greater, thus worse in comparison to SPY (139 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.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (33 days) in the period of the last 5 years, the average days below previous high of 224 days of iShares MSCI EAFE ETF is greater, thus worse.
• During the last 3 years, the average days below previous high is 341 days, which is larger, thus worse than the value of 45 days from the benchmark.