iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Japan ETF (HEWJ)

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.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (88.2%) in the period of the last 5 years, the total return, or performance of 150.2% of iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Japan ETF is larger, thus better.
• Looking at total return in of 130.5% in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively greater, thus better in comparison to SPY (75.3%).

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 (13.5%) in the period of the last 5 years, the annual return (CAGR) of 20.2% of iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Japan ETF is higher, thus better.
• Looking at annual performance (CAGR) in of 32.3% in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively larger, thus better in comparison to SPY (20.7%).

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 18.7% in the last 5 years of iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Japan ETF, we see it is relatively larger, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (17.1%)
• Looking at 30 days standard deviation in of 20% in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively greater, thus worse in comparison to SPY (15.2%).

DownVol:

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

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (11.8%) in the period of the last 5 years, the downside deviation of 13% of iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Japan ETF is higher, thus worse.
• During the last 3 years, the downside volatility is 13.7%, which is greater, thus worse than the value of 10.2% from the benchmark.

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.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (0.65) in the period of the last 5 years, the risk / return profile (Sharpe) of 0.95 of iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Japan ETF is greater, thus better.
• Compared with SPY (1.2) in the period of the last 3 years, the ratio of return and volatility (Sharpe) of 1.49 is larger, thus better.

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.'

• The ratio of annual return and downside deviation over 5 years of iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Japan ETF is 1.37, which is larger, thus better compared to the benchmark SPY (0.94) in the same period.
• Looking at excess return divided by the downside deviation in of 2.18 in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively greater, thus better in comparison to SPY (1.79).

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 Currency Hedged MSCI Japan ETF is 5.22 , which is smaller, thus better compared to the benchmark SPY (8.42 ) in the same period.
• Looking at Ulcer Index in of 4.97 in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively higher, thus worse in comparison to SPY (3.42 ).

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 -20.9 days in the last 5 years of iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Japan ETF, we see it is relatively higher, thus better 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 drop from peak to valley of -20.9 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.'

• The maximum days below previous high over 5 years of iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Japan ETF is 303 days, which is lower, thus better compared to the benchmark SPY (488 days) in the same period.
• Looking at maximum days under water in of 241 days in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively greater, 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.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (119 days) in the period of the last 5 years, the average days under water of 77 days of iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Japan ETF is smaller, thus better.
• Looking at average time in days below previous high water mark in of 52 days in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively larger, thus worse in comparison to SPY (19 days).