iShares MSCI Canada Index Fund (EWC)

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 (107.7%) in the period of the last 5 years, the total return, or performance of 60.9% of iShares MSCI Canada Index Fund is lower, thus worse.
• Compared with SPY (33.8%) in the period of the last 3 years, the total return, or performance of 19.6% is lower, 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.'

• Looking at the compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10% in the last 5 years of iShares MSCI Canada Index Fund, we see it is relatively smaller, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (15.8%)
• Compared with SPY (10.2%) in the period of the last 3 years, the compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.2% is lower, thus worse.

Volatility:

'In finance, volatility (symbol σ) is the degree of variation of a trading price series over time as measured by the standard deviation of logarithmic returns. Historic volatility measures a time series of past market prices. Implied volatility looks forward in time, being derived from the market price of a market-traded derivative (in particular, an option). Commonly, the higher the volatility, the riskier the security.'

• Looking at the 30 days standard deviation of 22.7% in the last 5 years of iShares MSCI Canada Index Fund, we see it is relatively larger, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (20.9%)
• During the last 3 years, the volatility is 18%, which is greater, thus worse than the value of 17.5% 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.'

• The downside volatility over 5 years of iShares MSCI Canada Index Fund is 16.5%, which is greater, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (14.9%) in the same period.
• Compared with SPY (12.2%) in the period of the last 3 years, the downside risk of 12.5% is greater, thus worse.

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 (0.63) in the period of the last 5 years, the Sharpe Ratio of 0.33 of iShares MSCI Canada Index Fund is smaller, thus worse.
• During the last 3 years, the Sharpe Ratio is 0.2, which is lower, thus worse than the value of 0.44 from the benchmark.

Sortino:

'The Sortino ratio improves upon the Sharpe ratio by isolating downside volatility from total volatility by dividing excess return by the downside deviation. The Sortino ratio is a variation of the Sharpe ratio that differentiates harmful volatility from total overall volatility by using the asset's standard deviation of negative asset returns, called downside deviation. The Sortino ratio takes the asset's return and subtracts the risk-free rate, and then divides that amount by the asset's downside deviation. The ratio was named after Frank A. Sortino.'

• The ratio of annual return and downside deviation over 5 years of iShares MSCI Canada Index Fund is 0.45, which is smaller, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (0.89) in the same period.
• Looking at ratio of annual return and downside deviation in of 0.29 in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively lower, thus worse in comparison to SPY (0.63).

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.'

• Looking at the Ulcer Index of 11 in the last 5 years of iShares MSCI Canada Index Fund, we see it is relatively higher, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (9.32 )
• Compared with SPY (10 ) in the period of the last 3 years, the Downside risk index of 11 is larger, thus worse.

MaxDD:

'A maximum drawdown is the maximum loss from a peak to a trough of a portfolio, before a new peak is attained. Maximum Drawdown is an indicator of downside risk over a specified time period. It can be used both as a stand-alone measure or as an input into other metrics such as 'Return over Maximum Drawdown' and the Calmar Ratio. Maximum Drawdown is expressed in percentage terms.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (-33.7 days) in the period of the last 5 years, the maximum DrawDown of -42.7 days of iShares MSCI Canada Index Fund is smaller, thus worse.
• Compared with SPY (-24.5 days) in the period of the last 3 years, the maximum DrawDown of -24.8 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'

• The maximum days under water over 5 years of iShares MSCI Canada Index Fund is 572 days, which is larger, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (488 days) in the same period.
• Compared with SPY (488 days) in the period of the last 3 years, the maximum days below previous high of 572 days is larger, thus worse.

AveDuration:

'The Average 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. 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 (123 days) in the period of the last 5 years, the average time in days below previous high water mark of 167 days of iShares MSCI Canada Index Fund is larger, thus worse.
• During the last 3 years, the average days below previous high is 232 days, which is greater, thus worse than the value of 178 days from the benchmark.