Vanguard Real Estate Index Fund (VGSIX)

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.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (88%) in the period of the last 5 years, the total return, or performance of 25.6% of Vanguard Real Estate Index Fund is lower, thus worse.
• During the last 3 years, the total return, or increase in value is 4.8%, which is lower, thus worse than the value of 39.5% 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 return (CAGR) over 5 years of Vanguard Real Estate Index Fund is 4.7%, which is smaller, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (13.5%) in the same period.
• Compared with SPY (11.7%) in the period of the last 3 years, the annual return (CAGR) of 1.6% 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.'

• Looking at the 30 days standard deviation of 22.7% in the last 5 years of Vanguard Real Estate Index Fund, we see it is relatively larger, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (18.8%)
• Compared with SPY (22.3%) in the period of the last 3 years, the 30 days standard deviation of 26.6% is higher, thus worse.

DownVol:

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

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (13.7%) in the period of the last 5 years, the downside deviation of 17.1% of Vanguard Real Estate Index Fund is higher, thus worse.
• Compared with SPY (16.5%) in the period of the last 3 years, the downside volatility of 20.3% is greater, thus worse.

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.'

• Looking at the ratio of return and volatility (Sharpe) of 0.1 in the last 5 years of Vanguard Real Estate Index Fund, we see it is relatively lower, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (0.58)
• Compared with SPY (0.41) in the period of the last 3 years, the ratio of return and volatility (Sharpe) of -0.03 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.'

• The downside risk / excess return profile over 5 years of Vanguard Real Estate Index Fund is 0.13, which is lower, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (0.8) in the same period.
• During the last 3 years, the excess return divided by the downside deviation is -0.05, which is smaller, thus worse than the value of 0.56 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 Real Estate Index Fund is 9.54 , which is greater, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (5.79 ) in the same period.
• Compared with SPY (7.08 ) in the period of the last 3 years, the Downside risk index of 11 is larger, thus worse.

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 (-33.7 days) in the period of the last 5 years, the maximum reduction from previous high of -42.3 days of Vanguard Real Estate Index Fund is lower, thus worse.
• During the last 3 years, the maximum drop from peak to valley is -42.3 days, which is lower, thus worse than the value of -33.7 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). Many assume Max DD Duration is the length of time between new highs during which the Max DD (magnitude) occurred. But that isn’t always the case. The Max DD duration is the longest time between peaks, period. So it could be the time when the program also had its biggest peak to valley loss (and usually is, because the program needs a long time to recover from the largest loss), but it doesn’t have to be'

• Looking at the maximum days under water of 628 days in the last 5 years of Vanguard Real Estate Index Fund, we see it is relatively larger, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (139 days)
• Compared with SPY (139 days) in the period of the last 3 years, the maximum days under water of 154 days is greater, 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 (37 days) in the period of the last 5 years, the average days under water of 184 days of Vanguard Real Estate Index Fund is larger, thus worse.
• Compared with SPY (45 days) in the period of the last 3 years, the average days under water of 40 days is smaller, thus better.