Vanguard Short Term Treasury Fund (VFISX)

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.'

• The total return, or increase in value over 5 years of Vanguard Short Term Treasury Fund is 5.9%, which is lower, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (105.6%) in the same period.
• Looking at total return, or increase in value in of 11% in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively smaller, thus worse in comparison to SPY (66.9%).

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 (15.6%) in the period of the last 5 years, the annual return (CAGR) of 1.2% of Vanguard Short Term Treasury Fund is lower, thus worse.
• Looking at annual return (CAGR) in of 3.6% in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively smaller, thus worse in comparison to SPY (18.7%).

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.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (17.4%) in the period of the last 5 years, the 30 days standard deviation of 2.6% of Vanguard Short Term Treasury Fund is lower, thus better.
• Looking at volatility in of 3% in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively lower, thus better in comparison to SPY (17%).

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.'

• The downside volatility over 5 years of Vanguard Short Term Treasury Fund is 1.7%, which is lower, thus better compared to the benchmark SPY (11.9%) in the same period.
• Looking at downside risk in of 1.8% in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively lower, thus better in comparison to SPY (11.2%).

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 (0.75) in the period of the last 5 years, the risk / return profile (Sharpe) of -0.52 of Vanguard Short Term Treasury Fund is lower, thus worse.
• During the last 3 years, the risk / return profile (Sharpe) is 0.36, which is lower, thus worse than the value of 0.96 from the benchmark.

Sortino:

'The Sortino ratio, a variation of the Sharpe ratio only factors in the downside, or negative volatility, rather than the total volatility used in calculating the Sharpe ratio. The theory behind the Sortino variation is that upside volatility is a plus for the investment, and it, therefore, should not be included in the risk calculation. Therefore, the Sortino ratio takes upside volatility out of the equation and uses only the downside standard deviation in its calculation instead of the total standard deviation that is used in calculating the Sharpe ratio.'

• The excess return divided by the downside deviation over 5 years of Vanguard Short Term Treasury Fund is -0.81, which is lower, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (1.1) in the same period.
• During the last 3 years, the downside risk / excess return profile is 0.59, which is lower, thus worse than the value of 1.45 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.'

• The Ulcer Index over 5 years of Vanguard Short Term Treasury Fund is 3.06 , which is lower, thus better compared to the benchmark SPY (8.43 ) in the same period.
• During the last 3 years, the Ulcer Ratio is 0.94 , which is lower, thus better than the value of 4.22 from the benchmark.

MaxDD:

'Maximum drawdown measures the loss in any losing period during a fund’s investment record. It is defined as the percent retrenchment from a fund’s peak value to the fund’s valley value. The drawdown is in effect from the time the fund’s retrenchment begins until a new fund high is reached. The maximum drawdown encompasses both the period from the fund’s peak to the fund’s valley (length), and the time from the fund’s valley to a new fund high (recovery). It measures the largest percentage drawdown that has occurred in any fund’s data record.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (-24.5 days) in the period of the last 5 years, the maximum reduction from previous high of -6.9 days of Vanguard Short Term Treasury Fund is higher, thus better.
• During the last 3 years, the maximum reduction from previous high is -2.2 days, which is larger, thus better than the value of -18.8 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.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (488 days) in the period of the last 5 years, the maximum days below previous high of 791 days of Vanguard Short Term Treasury Fund is greater, thus worse.
• Compared with SPY (97 days) in the period of the last 3 years, the maximum days below previous high of 145 days is larger, 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.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (119 days) in the period of the last 5 years, the average days below previous high of 274 days of Vanguard Short Term Treasury Fund is greater, thus worse.
• During the last 3 years, the average time in days below previous high water mark is 38 days, which is larger, thus worse than the value of 27 days from the benchmark.