iShares Short Maturity Bond ETF (NEAR)

TotalReturn:

'Total return is the amount of value an investor earns from a security over a specific period, typically one year, when all distributions are reinvested. Total return is expressed as a percentage of the amount invested. For example, a total return of 20% means the security increased by 20% of its original value due to a price increase, distribution of dividends (if a stock), coupons (if a bond) or capital gains (if a fund). Total return is a strong measure of an investment’s overall performance.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (99.3%) in the period of the last 5 years, the total return, or increase in value of 20% of iShares Short Maturity Bond ETF is smaller, thus worse.
• Compared with SPY (74.5%) in the period of the last 3 years, the total return, or increase in value of 19.5% is lower, thus worse.

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.'

• The annual return (CAGR) over 5 years of iShares Short Maturity Bond ETF is 3.7%, which is smaller, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (14.9%) in the same period.
• Compared with SPY (20.5%) in the period of the last 3 years, the annual return (CAGR) of 6.2% is lower, thus worse.

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 1.3% in the last 5 years of iShares Short Maturity Bond ETF, we see it is relatively lower, thus better in comparison to the benchmark SPY (17.1%)
• During the last 3 years, the volatility is 1.6%, which is smaller, thus better than the value of 15.6% from the benchmark.

DownVol:

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

• Looking at the downside volatility of 0.8% in the last 5 years of iShares Short Maturity Bond ETF, we see it is relatively lower, thus better in comparison to the benchmark SPY (11.8%)
• Compared with SPY (10.4%) in the period of the last 3 years, the downside volatility of 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.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (0.72) in the period of the last 5 years, the risk / return profile (Sharpe) of 0.97 of iShares Short Maturity Bond ETF is larger, thus better.
• During the last 3 years, the ratio of return and volatility (Sharpe) is 2.35, which is higher, thus better than the value of 1.16 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.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (1.05) in the period of the last 5 years, the excess return divided by the downside deviation of 1.55 of iShares Short Maturity Bond ETF is larger, thus better.
• Looking at ratio of annual return and downside deviation in of 3.76 in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively greater, thus better in comparison to SPY (1.73).

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 Index of 0.4 in the last 5 years of iShares Short Maturity Bond ETF, we see it is relatively lower, thus better in comparison to the benchmark SPY (8.42 )
• During the last 3 years, the Ulcer Index is 0.21 , which is lower, thus better than the value of 3.62 from the benchmark.

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.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (-24.5 days) in the period of the last 5 years, the maximum DrawDown of -1.3 days of iShares Short Maturity Bond ETF is greater, thus better.
• During the last 3 years, the maximum DrawDown is -1.2 days, which is larger, thus better than the value of -18.8 days from the benchmark.

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.'

• Looking at the maximum days below previous high of 302 days in the last 5 years of iShares Short Maturity Bond ETF, we see it is relatively smaller, thus better in comparison to the benchmark SPY (488 days)
• Compared with SPY (87 days) in the period of the last 3 years, the maximum days under water of 49 days is smaller, thus better.

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 (120 days) in the period of the last 5 years, the average days under water of 59 days of iShares Short Maturity Bond ETF is lower, thus better.
• Looking at average days below previous high in of 9 days in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively smaller, thus better in comparison to SPY (21 days).