Vanguard Short-Term Bond Index Fund Investor Shares (VBISX)

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.'

• Looking at the total return of 4.7% in the last 5 years of Vanguard Short-Term Bond Index Fund Investor Shares, we see it is relatively smaller, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (86.8%)
• During the last 3 years, the total return, or performance is -2.7%, which is lower, thus worse than the value of 26.3% 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.'

• The annual performance (CAGR) over 5 years of Vanguard Short-Term Bond Index Fund Investor Shares is 0.9%, which is lower, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (13.3%) in the same period.
• Compared with SPY (8.1%) in the period of the last 3 years, the annual performance (CAGR) of -0.9% 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 volatility of 2.7% in the last 5 years of Vanguard Short-Term Bond Index Fund Investor Shares, we see it is relatively lower, thus better in comparison to the benchmark SPY (20.9%)
• Compared with SPY (17.3%) in the period of the last 3 years, the volatility of 3.2% is lower, thus better.

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.'

• The downside risk over 5 years of Vanguard Short-Term Bond Index Fund Investor Shares is 1.8%, which is smaller, thus better compared to the benchmark SPY (15%) in the same period.
• Compared with SPY (12.1%) in the period of the last 3 years, the downside deviation of 2.2% is lower, thus better.

Sharpe:

'The Sharpe ratio was developed by Nobel laureate William F. Sharpe, and is used to help investors understand the return of an investment compared to its risk. The ratio is the average return earned in excess of the risk-free rate per unit of volatility or total risk. Subtracting the risk-free rate from the mean return allows an investor to better isolate the profits associated with risk-taking activities. One intuition of this calculation is that a portfolio engaging in 'zero risk' investments, such as the purchase of U.S. Treasury bills (for which the expected return is the risk-free rate), has a Sharpe ratio of exactly zero. Generally, the greater the value of the Sharpe ratio, the more attractive the risk-adjusted return.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (0.52) in the period of the last 5 years, the ratio of return and volatility (Sharpe) of -0.58 of Vanguard Short-Term Bond Index Fund Investor Shares is smaller, thus worse.
• Looking at risk / return profile (Sharpe) in of -1.07 in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively smaller, thus worse in comparison to SPY (0.32).

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.'

• Looking at the downside risk / excess return profile of -0.86 in the last 5 years of Vanguard Short-Term Bond Index Fund Investor Shares, we see it is relatively lower, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (0.72)
• During the last 3 years, the excess return divided by the downside deviation is -1.56, which is lower, thus worse than the value of 0.46 from the benchmark.

Ulcer:

'The Ulcer Index is a technical indicator that measures downside risk, in terms of both the depth and duration of price declines. The index increases in value as the price moves farther away from a recent high and falls as the price rises to new highs. The indicator is usually calculated over a 14-day period, with the Ulcer Index showing the percentage drawdown a trader can expect from the high over that period. The greater the value of the Ulcer Index, the longer it takes for a stock to get back to the former high.'

• Looking at the Ulcer Index of 3.61 in the last 5 years of Vanguard Short-Term Bond Index Fund Investor Shares, we see it is relatively lower, thus better in comparison to the benchmark SPY (9.33 )
• During the last 3 years, the Ulcer Ratio is 4.65 , which is lower, thus better than the value of 10 from the benchmark.

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.'

• The maximum drop from peak to valley over 5 years of Vanguard Short-Term Bond Index Fund Investor Shares is -8.7 days, which is greater, thus better compared to the benchmark SPY (-33.7 days) in the same period.
• Looking at maximum reduction from previous high in of -8.7 days in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively larger, thus better in comparison to SPY (-24.5 days).

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 time in days below previous high water mark over 5 years of Vanguard Short-Term Bond Index Fund Investor Shares is 686 days, which is greater, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (488 days) in the same period.
• Compared with SPY (488 days) in the period of the last 3 years, the maximum time in days below previous high water mark of 686 days is higher, thus worse.

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.'

• The average time in days below previous high water mark over 5 years of Vanguard Short-Term Bond Index Fund Investor Shares is 221 days, which is larger, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (122 days) in the same period.
• Looking at average days below previous high in of 324 days in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively higher, thus worse in comparison to SPY (178 days).