Description

The investment seeks to track the investment results of the MSCI Frontier Markets 100 Index. The fund generally will invest at least 90% of its assets in the component securities of the underlying index and in investments that have economic characteristics that are substantially identical to the component securities of the underlying index. The index is designed to measure equity market performance of frontier markets while putting stronger emphasis on tradability compared to the MSCI Frontier Markets IMI (the parent index).

Statistics (YTD)

What do these metrics mean? [Read More] [Hide]

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.'

Which means for our asset as example:
  • Looking at the total return, or increase in value of 4.8% in the last 5 years of iShares MSCI Frontier 100 Fund, we see it is relatively smaller, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (104.2%)
  • Compared with SPY (93%) in the period of the last 3 years, the total return, or increase in value of -13% is lower, thus worse.

CAGR:

'The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) is a useful measure of growth over multiple time periods. It can be thought of as the growth rate that gets you from the initial investment value to the ending investment value if you assume that the investment has been compounding over the time period.'

Using this definition on our asset we see for example:
  • Compared with the benchmark SPY (15.4%) in the period of the last 5 years, the compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 1% of iShares MSCI Frontier 100 Fund is smaller, thus worse.
  • Looking at annual performance (CAGR) in of -4.5% in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively lower, thus worse in comparison to SPY (24.7%).

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.'

Which means for our asset as example:
  • The historical 30 days volatility over 5 years of iShares MSCI Frontier 100 Fund is 16.8%, which is lower, thus better compared to the benchmark SPY (17.2%) in the same period.
  • During the last 3 years, the volatility is 12.2%, which is smaller, thus better than the value of 16.3% 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.'

Which means for our asset as example:
  • Compared with the benchmark SPY (11.9%) in the period of the last 5 years, the downside risk of 13.2% of iShares MSCI Frontier 100 Fund is higher, thus worse.
  • Compared with SPY (10.6%) in the period of the last 3 years, the downside risk of 9.1% is smaller, thus better.

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.'

Using this definition on our asset we see for example:
  • Compared with the benchmark SPY (0.75) in the period of the last 5 years, the Sharpe Ratio of -0.09 of iShares MSCI Frontier 100 Fund is smaller, thus worse.
  • During the last 3 years, the risk / return profile (Sharpe) is -0.58, which is lower, thus worse than the value of 1.36 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.'

Which means for our asset as example:
  • The ratio of annual return and downside deviation over 5 years of iShares MSCI Frontier 100 Fund is -0.12, which is lower, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (1.09) in the same period.
  • Compared with SPY (2.1) in the period of the last 3 years, the downside risk / excess return profile of -0.77 is smaller, 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.'

Using this definition on our asset we see for example:
  • Compared with the benchmark SPY (8.42 ) in the period of the last 5 years, the Ulcer Index of 19 of iShares MSCI Frontier 100 Fund is higher, thus worse.
  • Looking at Ulcer Index in of 20 in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively greater, thus worse in comparison to SPY (3.62 ).

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.'

Using this definition on our asset we see for example:
  • Looking at the maximum drop from peak to valley of -37.1 days in the last 5 years of iShares MSCI Frontier 100 Fund, we see it is relatively lower, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (-24.5 days)
  • Compared with SPY (-18.8 days) in the period of the last 3 years, the maximum DrawDown of -32.5 days is smaller, thus worse.

MaxDuration:

'The Maximum 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. It is the length of time the account was in the Max Drawdown. A Max Drawdown measures a retrenchment from when an equity curve reaches a new high. It’s the maximum an account lost during that retrenchment. This method is applied because a valley can’t be measured until a new high occurs. Once the new high is reached, the percentage change from the old high to the bottom of the largest trough is recorded.'

Using this definition on our asset we see for example:
  • Looking at the maximum days under water of 792 days in the last 5 years of iShares MSCI Frontier 100 Fund, we see it is relatively higher, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (488 days)
  • Looking at maximum days below previous high in of 750 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.'

Applying this definition to our asset in some examples:
  • Looking at the average days under water of 301 days in the last 5 years of iShares MSCI Frontier 100 Fund, we see it is relatively higher, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (120 days)
  • Compared with SPY (21 days) in the period of the last 3 years, the average time in days below previous high water mark of 376 days is higher, thus worse.

Performance (YTD)

Historical returns have been extended using synthetic data.

Allocations ()

Allocations

Returns (%)

  • Note that yearly returns do not equal the sum of monthly returns due to compounding.
  • Performance results of iShares MSCI Frontier 100 Fund are hypothetical and do not account for slippage, fees or taxes.