iShares MSCI Malaysia Index Fund (EWM)

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, or increase in value of 29.8% in the last 5 years of iShares MSCI Malaysia Index Fund, we see it is relatively lower, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (82.8%)
• During the last 3 years, the total return is 50.8%, which is lower, thus worse than the value of 80.4% from the benchmark.

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 return (CAGR) of 5.4% in the last 5 years of iShares MSCI Malaysia Index Fund, we see it is relatively smaller, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (12.9%)
• Looking at annual return (CAGR) in of 14.7% in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively smaller, thus worse in comparison to SPY (21.8%).

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.'

• The volatility over 5 years of iShares MSCI Malaysia Index Fund is 13.8%, which is lower, thus better compared to the benchmark SPY (17.2%) in the same period.
• During the last 3 years, the historical 30 days volatility is 14%, which is lower, thus better than the value of 15.3% from the benchmark.

DownVol:

'The downside volatility is similar to the volatility, or standard deviation, but only takes losing/negative periods into account.'

• Looking at the downside deviation of 9.4% in the last 5 years of iShares MSCI Malaysia Index Fund, we see it is relatively smaller, thus better in comparison to the benchmark SPY (11.8%)
• Compared with SPY (10.2%) in the period of the last 3 years, the downside risk of 9.5% is smaller, thus better.

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 (0.6) in the period of the last 5 years, the ratio of return and volatility (Sharpe) of 0.21 of iShares MSCI Malaysia Index Fund is smaller, thus worse.
• During the last 3 years, the Sharpe Ratio is 0.88, which is smaller, thus worse than the value of 1.26 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.'

• Looking at the ratio of annual return and downside deviation of 0.31 in the last 5 years of iShares MSCI Malaysia Index Fund, we see it is relatively smaller, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (0.88)
• During the last 3 years, the ratio of annual return and downside deviation is 1.28, which is lower, thus worse than the value of 1.89 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.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (8.45 ) in the period of the last 5 years, the Ulcer Ratio of 11 of iShares MSCI Malaysia Index Fund is greater, thus worse.
• Compared with SPY (3.37 ) in the period of the last 3 years, the Ulcer Ratio of 6.42 is larger, thus worse.

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 -22.8 days in the last 5 years of iShares MSCI Malaysia Index Fund, we see it is relatively larger, thus better in comparison to the benchmark SPY (-24.5 days)
• During the last 3 years, the maximum reduction from previous high is -21.3 days, which is smaller, thus worse than the value of -18.8 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 time in days below previous high water mark over 5 years of iShares MSCI Malaysia Index Fund is 705 days, which is larger, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (488 days) in the same period.
• Looking at maximum days under water in of 280 days in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively larger, 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.'

• The average time in days below previous high water mark over 5 years of iShares MSCI Malaysia Index Fund is 243 days, which is larger, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (118 days) in the same period.
• Looking at average days under water in of 69 days in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively greater, thus worse in comparison to SPY (18 days).