iShares MSCI Germany Index Fund (EWG)

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.'

• Looking at the total return of 25.5% in the last 5 years of iShares MSCI Germany Index Fund, we see it is relatively lower, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (101.9%)
• Looking at total return in of 7.4% in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively smaller, thus worse in comparison to SPY (33.5%).

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.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (15.1%) in the period of the last 5 years, the compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.6% of iShares MSCI Germany Index Fund is smaller, thus worse.
• Compared with SPY (10.1%) in the period of the last 3 years, the compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2.4% is lower, 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.'

• Looking at the historical 30 days volatility of 24.4% in the last 5 years of iShares MSCI Germany Index Fund, we see it is relatively greater, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (21%)
• Compared with SPY (17.5%) in the period of the last 3 years, the 30 days standard deviation of 21.6% is greater, thus worse.

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 MSCI Germany Index Fund is 17.7%, which is greater, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (15%) in the same period.
• During the last 3 years, the downside volatility is 14.9%, which is higher, thus worse than the value of 12.3% from the benchmark.

Sharpe:

'The Sharpe ratio was developed by Nobel laureate William F. Sharpe, and is used to help investors understand the return of an investment compared to its risk. The ratio is the average return earned in excess of the risk-free rate per unit of volatility or total risk. Subtracting the risk-free rate from the mean return allows an investor to better isolate the profits associated with risk-taking activities. One intuition of this calculation is that a portfolio engaging in 'zero risk' investments, such as the purchase of U.S. Treasury bills (for which the expected return is the risk-free rate), has a Sharpe ratio of exactly zero. Generally, the greater the value of the Sharpe ratio, the more attractive the risk-adjusted return.'

• Looking at the ratio of return and volatility (Sharpe) of 0.09 in the last 5 years of iShares MSCI Germany Index Fund, we see it is relatively lower, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (0.6)
• During the last 3 years, the ratio of return and volatility (Sharpe) is 0, which is smaller, thus worse than the value of 0.44 from the benchmark.

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.'

• The ratio of annual return and downside deviation over 5 years of iShares MSCI Germany Index Fund is 0.12, which is lower, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (0.84) in the same period.
• Compared with SPY (0.62) in the period of the last 3 years, the downside risk / excess return profile of -0.01 is lower, thus worse.

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 Ulcer Index of 17 in the last 5 years of iShares MSCI Germany Index Fund, we see it is relatively larger, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (9.32 )
• Looking at Ulcer Ratio in of 17 in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively larger, thus worse in comparison to SPY (10 ).

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.'

• Looking at the maximum drop from peak to valley of -43.4 days in the last 5 years of iShares MSCI Germany Index Fund, we see it is relatively lower, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (-33.7 days)
• During the last 3 years, the maximum DrawDown is -40 days, which is smaller, thus worse than the value of -24.5 days from the benchmark.

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.'

• The maximum days below previous high over 5 years of iShares MSCI Germany Index Fund is 826 days, which is higher, 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 under water of 552 days is greater, 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.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (122 days) in the period of the last 5 years, the average days below previous high of 293 days of iShares MSCI Germany Index Fund is larger, thus worse.
• During the last 3 years, the average time in days below previous high water mark is 214 days, which is larger, thus worse than the value of 177 days from the benchmark.