Vanguard Short Term Treasury Fund (VFISX)

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.'

• Looking at the total return, or performance of 2.7% in the last 5 years of Vanguard Short Term Treasury Fund, we see it is relatively lower, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (111.4%)
• Compared with SPY (41.9%) in the period of the last 3 years, the total return of 7.9% is lower, thus worse.

CAGR:

'The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) is a useful measure of growth over multiple time periods. It can be thought of as the growth rate that gets you from the initial investment value to the ending investment value if you assume that the investment has been compounding over the time period.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (16.2%) in the period of the last 5 years, the annual performance (CAGR) of 0.5% of Vanguard Short Term Treasury Fund is lower, thus worse.
• Compared with SPY (12.5%) in the period of the last 3 years, the annual return (CAGR) of 2.6% is smaller, 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.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (17.9%) 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.
• During the last 3 years, the volatility is 3%, which is lower, thus better than the value of 18.4% from the benchmark.

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.'

• Looking at the downside risk of 1.7% in the last 5 years of Vanguard Short Term Treasury Fund, we see it is relatively smaller, thus better in comparison to the benchmark SPY (12.5%)
• Looking at downside volatility in of 1.9% in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively lower, thus better in comparison to SPY (12.6%).

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.'

• Looking at the risk / return profile (Sharpe) of -0.76 in the last 5 years of Vanguard Short Term Treasury Fund, we see it is relatively smaller, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (0.76)
• Compared with SPY (0.54) in the period of the last 3 years, the risk / return profile (Sharpe) of 0.03 is smaller, thus worse.

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.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (1.1) in the period of the last 5 years, the downside risk / excess return profile of -1.13 of Vanguard Short Term Treasury Fund is lower, thus worse.
• Compared with SPY (0.79) in the period of the last 3 years, the downside risk / excess return profile of 0.04 is smaller, thus worse.

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.'

• The Ulcer Ratio over 5 years of Vanguard Short Term Treasury Fund is 4.08 , which is lower, thus better compared to the benchmark SPY (8.47 ) in the same period.
• During the last 3 years, the Downside risk index is 1.31 , which is lower, thus better than the value of 5.53 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.'

• Looking at the maximum drop from peak to valley of -8.2 days in the last 5 years of Vanguard Short Term Treasury Fund, we see it is relatively larger, thus better in comparison to the benchmark SPY (-24.5 days)
• Looking at maximum drop from peak to valley in of -3.5 days in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively greater, thus better in comparison to SPY (-18.8 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.'

• Looking at the maximum time in days below previous high water mark of 927 days in the last 5 years of Vanguard Short Term Treasury Fund, we see it is relatively higher, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (488 days)
• During the last 3 years, the maximum time in days below previous high water mark is 233 days, which is higher, thus worse than the value of 199 days from the benchmark.

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 days below previous high over 5 years of Vanguard Short Term Treasury Fund is 373 days, which is larger, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (119 days) in the same period.
• Compared with SPY (44 days) in the period of the last 3 years, the average days under water of 69 days is higher, thus worse.