Vanguard Inflation Protected Securities Fund (VIPSX)

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 7.8% in the last 5 years of Vanguard Inflation Protected Securities Fund, we see it is relatively lower, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (87.8%)
• During the last 3 years, the total return, or increase in value is 13.1%, which is lower, thus worse than the value of 72.9% 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.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (13.5%) in the period of the last 5 years, the annual performance (CAGR) of 1.5% of Vanguard Inflation Protected Securities Fund is smaller, thus worse.
• Compared with SPY (20.1%) in the period of the last 3 years, the annual return (CAGR) of 4.2% is smaller, thus worse.

Volatility:

'In finance, volatility (symbol σ) is the degree of variation of a trading price series over time as measured by the standard deviation of logarithmic returns. Historic volatility measures a time series of past market prices. Implied volatility looks forward in time, being derived from the market price of a market-traded derivative (in particular, an option). Commonly, the higher the volatility, the riskier the security.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (17%) in the period of the last 5 years, the 30 days standard deviation of 6% of Vanguard Inflation Protected Securities Fund is smaller, thus better.
• Compared with SPY (15.1%) in the period of the last 3 years, the volatility of 5.1% is smaller, thus better.

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 deviation of 4.2% in the last 5 years of Vanguard Inflation Protected Securities Fund, we see it is relatively lower, thus better in comparison to the benchmark SPY (11.7%)
• Compared with SPY (10.1%) in the period of the last 3 years, the downside deviation of 3.4% is lower, thus better.

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 -0.16 in the last 5 years of Vanguard Inflation Protected Securities Fund, we see it is relatively smaller, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (0.65)
• Compared with SPY (1.17) in the period of the last 3 years, the Sharpe Ratio of 0.33 is lower, 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.'

• The excess return divided by the downside deviation over 5 years of Vanguard Inflation Protected Securities Fund is -0.23, which is smaller, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (0.94) in the same period.
• Compared with SPY (1.74) in the period of the last 3 years, the excess return divided by the downside deviation of 0.49 is lower, thus worse.

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.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (8.42 ) in the period of the last 5 years, the Ulcer Index of 7.6 of Vanguard Inflation Protected Securities Fund is lower, thus better.
• Compared with SPY (3.4 ) in the period of the last 3 years, the Downside risk index of 2.03 is lower, thus better.

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 reduction from previous high over 5 years of Vanguard Inflation Protected Securities Fund is -14.6 days, which is higher, thus better compared to the benchmark SPY (-24.5 days) in the same period.
• Looking at maximum drop from peak to valley in of -6.4 days in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively larger, 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). 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 time in days below previous high water mark of 1077 days in the last 5 years of Vanguard Inflation Protected Securities Fund, we see it is relatively greater, 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 290 days, which is higher, thus worse than the value of 87 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 under water over 5 years of Vanguard Inflation Protected Securities Fund is 481 days, which is larger, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (119 days) in the same period.
• Compared with SPY (19 days) in the period of the last 3 years, the average time in days below previous high water mark of 80 days is higher, thus worse.