iShares MSCI France Index Fund (EWQ)

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 24.7% in the last 5 years of iShares MSCI France Index Fund, we see it is relatively lower, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (81.9%)
• During the last 3 years, the total return, or increase in value is 16.9%, which is lower, thus worse than the value of 46.1% 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.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (12.7%) in the period of the last 5 years, the annual performance (CAGR) of 4.5% of iShares MSCI France Index Fund is lower, thus worse.
• During the last 3 years, the annual performance (CAGR) is 5.3%, which is smaller, thus worse than the value of 13.5% from the benchmark.

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.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (19.8%) in the period of the last 5 years, the 30 days standard deviation of 22.1% of iShares MSCI France Index Fund is higher, thus worse.
• During the last 3 years, the volatility is 26.2%, which is greater, thus worse than the value of 23% 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.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (14.5%) in the period of the last 5 years, the downside volatility of 16.6% of iShares MSCI France Index Fund is greater, thus worse.
• Compared with SPY (16.8%) in the period of the last 3 years, the downside deviation of 19.6% is greater, thus worse.

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.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (0.52) in the period of the last 5 years, the ratio of return and volatility (Sharpe) of 0.09 of iShares MSCI France Index Fund is lower, thus worse.
• During the last 3 years, the risk / return profile (Sharpe) is 0.11, which is lower, thus worse than the value of 0.48 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.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (0.7) in the period of the last 5 years, the ratio of annual return and downside deviation of 0.12 of iShares MSCI France Index Fund is lower, thus worse.
• Looking at excess return divided by the downside deviation in of 0.14 in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively lower, thus worse in comparison to SPY (0.65).

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.'

• The Downside risk index over 5 years of iShares MSCI France Index Fund is 10 , which is greater, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (6.08 ) in the same period.
• Compared with SPY (6.77 ) in the period of the last 3 years, the Ulcer 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.'

• The maximum drop from peak to valley over 5 years of iShares MSCI France Index Fund is -39.2 days, which is smaller, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (-33.7 days) in the same period.
• Looking at maximum drop from peak to valley in of -39.2 days in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively lower, thus worse in comparison to SPY (-33.7 days).

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.'

• Looking at the maximum days under water of 473 days in the last 5 years of iShares MSCI France Index Fund, we see it is relatively higher, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (139 days)
• Compared with SPY (119 days) in the period of the last 3 years, the maximum days below previous high of 215 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 (35 days) in the period of the last 5 years, the average days under water of 124 days of iShares MSCI France Index Fund is higher, thus worse.
• Compared with SPY (27 days) in the period of the last 3 years, the average days below previous high of 51 days is higher, thus worse.