Description

iShares Trust iShares MSCI Saudi Arabia ETF

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.'

Applying this definition to our asset in some examples:
  • Compared with the benchmark SPY (87.4%) in the period of the last 5 years, the total return, or increase in value of 34.7% of iShares MSCI Saudi Arabia ETF is lower, thus worse.
  • During the last 3 years, the total return, or increase in value is 22.5%, which is smaller, thus worse than the value of 26.8% 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.'

Which means for our asset as example:
  • Looking at the compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.1% in the last 5 years of iShares MSCI Saudi Arabia ETF, we see it is relatively lower, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (13.4%)
  • Compared with SPY (8.2%) in the period of the last 3 years, the annual return (CAGR) of 7% 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.'

Using this definition on our asset we see for example:
  • Looking at the 30 days standard deviation of 22.9% in the last 5 years of iShares MSCI Saudi Arabia ETF, we see it is relatively greater, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (20.9%)
  • Looking at historical 30 days volatility in of 16.2% in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively smaller, thus better in comparison to SPY (17.3%).

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.'

Applying this definition to our asset in some examples:
  • Compared with the benchmark SPY (15%) in the period of the last 5 years, the downside deviation of 16.3% of iShares MSCI Saudi Arabia ETF is higher, thus worse.
  • Compared with SPY (12.1%) in the period of the last 3 years, the downside deviation of 11.5% is smaller, thus better.

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.'

Which means for our asset as example:
  • The Sharpe Ratio over 5 years of iShares MSCI Saudi Arabia ETF is 0.16, which is lower, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (0.52) in the same period.
  • Compared with SPY (0.33) in the period of the last 3 years, the ratio of return and volatility (Sharpe) of 0.28 is lower, thus worse.

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:
  • Compared with the benchmark SPY (0.73) in the period of the last 5 years, the downside risk / excess return profile of 0.22 of iShares MSCI Saudi Arabia ETF is lower, thus worse.
  • Looking at ratio of annual return and downside deviation in of 0.39 in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively lower, thus worse in comparison to SPY (0.47).

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.'

Applying this definition to our asset in some examples:
  • The Ulcer Ratio over 5 years of iShares MSCI Saudi Arabia ETF is 15 , which is higher, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (9.33 ) in the same period.
  • Looking at Ulcer Ratio in of 15 in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively larger, thus worse in comparison to SPY (10 ).

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.'

Using this definition on our asset we see for example:
  • Looking at the maximum DrawDown of -40.6 days in the last 5 years of iShares MSCI Saudi Arabia ETF, we see it is relatively lower, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (-33.7 days)
  • During the last 3 years, the maximum DrawDown is -28.1 days, which is lower, thus worse than the value of -24.5 days from the benchmark.

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.'

Which means for our asset as example:
  • The maximum days below previous high over 5 years of iShares MSCI Saudi Arabia ETF is 507 days, which is higher, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (488 days) in the same period.
  • Looking at maximum time in days below previous high water mark in of 507 days in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively higher, thus worse in comparison to SPY (488 days).

AveDuration:

'The Average 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. 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.'

Which means for our asset as example:
  • The average time in days below previous high water mark over 5 years of iShares MSCI Saudi Arabia ETF is 201 days, which is larger, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (122 days) in the same period.
  • Compared with SPY (179 days) in the period of the last 3 years, the average time in days below previous high water mark of 187 days is larger, 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 Saudi Arabia ETF are hypothetical, do not account for slippage, fees or taxes, and are based on backtesting, which has many inherent limitations, some of which are described in our Terms of Use.