iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Germany ETF (HEWG)

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 53.2% in the last 5 years of iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Germany ETF, we see it is relatively smaller, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (129.1%)
• Compared with SPY (71.3%) in the period of the last 3 years, the total return, or performance of 35.9% 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.'

• Looking at the annual return (CAGR) of 8.9% in the last 5 years of iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Germany ETF, we see it is relatively smaller, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (18.1%)
• Looking at compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) in of 10.8% in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively lower, thus worse in comparison to SPY (19.7%).

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 20.5% in the last 5 years of iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Germany ETF, we see it is relatively larger, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (18.7%)
• Looking at historical 30 days volatility in of 24.3% in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively larger, thus worse in comparison to SPY (22.5%).

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 (13.6%) in the period of the last 5 years, the downside volatility of 15.4% of iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Germany ETF is higher, thus worse.
• Looking at downside volatility in of 18.4% in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively larger, thus worse in comparison to SPY (16.3%).

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.'

• The ratio of return and volatility (Sharpe) over 5 years of iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Germany ETF is 0.31, which is lower, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (0.83) in the same period.
• Looking at ratio of return and volatility (Sharpe) in of 0.34 in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively smaller, thus worse in comparison to SPY (0.76).

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 (1.15) in the period of the last 5 years, the ratio of annual return and downside deviation of 0.42 of iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Germany ETF is lower, thus worse.
• During the last 3 years, the ratio of annual return and downside deviation is 0.45, which is lower, thus worse than the value of 1.05 from the benchmark.

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 Ratio of 8.68 in the last 5 years of iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Germany ETF, we see it is relatively higher, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (5.59 )
• Compared with SPY (6.38 ) in the period of the last 3 years, the Ulcer Index of 8.33 is greater, 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 DrawDown of -39.4 days in the last 5 years of iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Germany ETF, we see it is relatively lower, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (-33.7 days)
• Compared with SPY (-33.7 days) in the period of the last 3 years, the maximum reduction from previous high of -39.4 days is lower, 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.'

• The maximum days under water over 5 years of iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Germany ETF is 450 days, which is greater, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (139 days) in the same period.
• During the last 3 years, the maximum time in days below previous high water mark is 220 days, which is greater, thus worse than the value of 119 days from the benchmark.

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 (32 days) in the period of the last 5 years, the average time in days below previous high water mark of 115 days of iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Germany ETF is higher, thus worse.
• During the last 3 years, the average time in days below previous high water mark is 53 days, which is larger, thus worse than the value of 25 days from the benchmark.