Dr. Bernstein's No Brainer Portfolio

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 performance over 5 years of Dr. Bernstein's No Brainer Portfolio is 39.3%, which is smaller, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (86.7%) in the same period.
• During the last 3 years, the total return is 4.9%, which is smaller, thus worse than the value of 25.1% 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 (13.3%) in the period of the last 5 years, the annual return (CAGR) of 6.9% of Dr. Bernstein's No Brainer Portfolio is smaller, thus worse.
• During the last 3 years, the annual return (CAGR) is 1.6%, which is smaller, thus worse than the value of 7.8% from the benchmark.

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 (20.9%) in the period of the last 5 years, the historical 30 days volatility of 15.7% of Dr. Bernstein's No Brainer Portfolio is lower, thus better.
• Looking at volatility in of 13.7% in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively lower, thus better in comparison to SPY (17.3%).

DownVol:

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

• The downside deviation over 5 years of Dr. Bernstein's No Brainer Portfolio is 11.5%, which is smaller, thus better compared to the benchmark SPY (15%) in the same period.
• During the last 3 years, the downside volatility is 9.6%, which is smaller, thus better than the value of 12.1% from the benchmark.

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.'

• The risk / return profile (Sharpe) over 5 years of Dr. Bernstein's No Brainer Portfolio is 0.28, which is smaller, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (0.52) in the same period.
• During the last 3 years, the risk / return profile (Sharpe) is -0.07, which is lower, thus worse than the value of 0.3 from the benchmark.

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.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (0.72) in the period of the last 5 years, the ratio of annual return and downside deviation of 0.38 of Dr. Bernstein's No Brainer Portfolio is lower, thus worse.
• During the last 3 years, the ratio of annual return and downside deviation is -0.09, which is lower, thus worse than the value of 0.43 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 Ratio over 5 years of Dr. Bernstein's No Brainer Portfolio is 9.55 , which is larger, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (9.33 ) in the same period.
• Looking at Downside risk index in of 11 in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively higher, thus worse in comparison to SPY (10 ).

MaxDD:

'A maximum drawdown is the maximum loss from a peak to a trough of a portfolio, before a new peak is attained. Maximum Drawdown is an indicator of downside risk over a specified time period. It can be used both as a stand-alone measure or as an input into other metrics such as 'Return over Maximum Drawdown' and the Calmar Ratio. Maximum Drawdown is expressed in percentage terms.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (-33.7 days) in the period of the last 5 years, the maximum DrawDown of -28.2 days of Dr. Bernstein's No Brainer Portfolio is larger, thus better.
• Looking at maximum reduction from previous high in of -24.4 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.'

• Looking at the maximum days below previous high of 582 days in the last 5 years of Dr. Bernstein's No Brainer Portfolio, we see it is relatively greater, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (488 days)
• During the last 3 years, the maximum days below previous high is 582 days, which is larger, thus worse than the value of 488 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.'

• Looking at the average time in days below previous high water mark of 163 days in the last 5 years of Dr. Bernstein's No Brainer Portfolio, we see it is relatively larger, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (123 days)
• Looking at average time in days below previous high water mark in of 238 days in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively higher, thus worse in comparison to SPY (178 days).