iShares MSCI South Africa Index Fund (EZA)

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.'

• Looking at the total return, or increase in value of -20.7% in the last 5 years of iShares MSCI South Africa Index Fund, we see it is relatively lower, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (62.4%)
• During the last 3 years, the total return is -8.5%, which is lower, thus worse than the value of 39.3% 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 (10.2%) in the period of the last 5 years, the annual return (CAGR) of -4.5% of iShares MSCI South Africa Index Fund is lower, thus worse.
• Compared with SPY (11.7%) in the period of the last 3 years, the compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of -2.9% 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.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (13.5%) in the period of the last 5 years, the historical 30 days volatility of 30.5% of iShares MSCI South Africa Index Fund is larger, thus worse.
• Looking at historical 30 days volatility in of 28% in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively larger, thus worse in comparison to SPY (13.2%).

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.'

• The downside deviation over 5 years of iShares MSCI South Africa Index Fund is 21.9%, which is higher, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (9.8%) in the same period.
• Compared with SPY (9.8%) in the period of the last 3 years, the downside volatility of 20.1% is higher, thus worse.

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 (0.57) in the period of the last 5 years, the Sharpe Ratio of -0.23 of iShares MSCI South Africa Index Fund is smaller, thus worse.
• During the last 3 years, the Sharpe Ratio is -0.19, which is smaller, thus worse than the value of 0.69 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.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (0.78) in the period of the last 5 years, the ratio of annual return and downside deviation of -0.32 of iShares MSCI South Africa Index Fund is lower, thus worse.
• Compared with SPY (0.94) in the period of the last 3 years, the ratio of annual return and downside deviation of -0.27 is lower, thus worse.

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.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (3.98 ) in the period of the last 5 years, the Ulcer Index of 23 of iShares MSCI South Africa Index Fund is greater, thus worse.
• During the last 3 years, the Downside risk index is 22 , which is greater, thus worse than the value of 4.12 from the benchmark.

MaxDD:

'Maximum drawdown measures the loss in any losing period during a fund’s investment record. It is defined as the percent retrenchment from a fund’s peak value to the fund’s valley value. The drawdown is in effect from the time the fund’s retrenchment begins until a new fund high is reached. The maximum drawdown encompasses both the period from the fund’s peak to the fund’s valley (length), and the time from the fund’s valley to a new fund high (recovery). It measures the largest percentage drawdown that has occurred in any fund’s data record.'

• The maximum reduction from previous high over 5 years of iShares MSCI South Africa Index Fund is -45 days, which is lower, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (-19.3 days) in the same period.
• Compared with SPY (-19.3 days) in the period of the last 3 years, the maximum reduction from previous high of -37 days is smaller, 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) in days.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (187 days) in the period of the last 5 years, the maximum time in days below previous high water mark of 669 days of iShares MSCI South Africa Index Fund is greater, thus worse.
• Compared with SPY (139 days) in the period of the last 3 years, the maximum days under water of 523 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.'

• Looking at the average time in days below previous high water mark of 291 days in the last 5 years of iShares MSCI South Africa Index Fund, we see it is relatively higher, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (42 days)
• During the last 3 years, the average days below previous high is 195 days, which is higher, thus worse than the value of 37 days from the benchmark.