Description

Align Technology, Inc., a medical device company, designs, manufactures, and markets Invisalign clear aligners and iTero intraoral scanners and services for orthodontists and general practitioner dentists, and restorative and aesthetic dentistry. It operates in two segments, Clear Aligner; and Scanners and Services. The Clear Aligner segment consists of comprehensive products, including Invisalign Comprehensive treatment that addresses the orthodontic needs of teenage patients, such as mandibular advancement, compliance indicators, and compensation for tooth eruption; and Invisalign First Phase I and Invisalign First Comprehensive Phase 2 package for younger patients generally between the ages of seven and ten years, which is a mixture of primary/baby and permanent teeth. This segment's non-comprehensive products comprise Invisalign Moderate, Lite and Express packages, and Invisalign Go; and non-case products include retention products, Invisalign training fees, and sales of ancillary products, such as cleaning material, and adjusting tools used by dental professionals during the course of treatment. The Scanners and Services segment offers iTero Scanner, a single hardware platform with software options for restorative or orthodontic procedures; restorative software for general practitioner dentists, prosthodontists, periodontists, and oral surgeons; software for orthodontists for digital records storage, orthodontic diagnosis, and for the fabrication of printed models and retainers; computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing services and ancillary products, such as disposable sleeves for the wand; and iTero applications and tools. The company sells its products in the United States, the Netherlands, China, and internationally. Align Technology, Inc. was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in San Jose, California.

Statistics (YTD)

What do these metrics mean? [Read More] [Hide]

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.'

Which means for our asset as example:
  • The total return over 5 years of Align Technology is -4.5%, which is lower, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (109.3%) in the same period.
  • During the last 3 years, the total return, or increase in value is -50.3%, which is lower, thus worse than the value of 34.3% 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.'

Which means for our asset as example:
  • Compared with the benchmark SPY (16%) in the period of the last 5 years, the compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of -0.9% of Align Technology is lower, thus worse.
  • Looking at annual return (CAGR) in of -20.9% in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively smaller, thus worse in comparison to SPY (10.4%).

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.'

Using this definition on our asset we see for example:
  • Compared with the benchmark SPY (18%) in the period of the last 5 years, the volatility of 50.8% of Align Technology is higher, thus worse.
  • Looking at 30 days standard deviation in of 50.8% in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively higher, thus worse in comparison to SPY (18.8%).

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.'

Using this definition on our asset we see for example:
  • Compared with the benchmark SPY (12.5%) in the period of the last 5 years, the downside deviation of 33.3% of Align Technology is greater, thus worse.
  • Compared with SPY (13%) in the period of the last 3 years, the downside deviation of 36% is higher, 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.'

Using this definition on our asset we see for example:
  • Compared with the benchmark SPY (0.75) in the period of the last 5 years, the Sharpe Ratio of -0.07 of Align Technology is lower, thus worse.
  • Looking at Sharpe Ratio in of -0.46 in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively lower, thus worse in comparison to SPY (0.42).

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.'

Using this definition on our asset we see for example:
  • Looking at the excess return divided by the downside deviation of -0.1 in the last 5 years of Align Technology, we see it is relatively smaller, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (1.07)
  • During the last 3 years, the downside risk / excess return profile is -0.65, which is smaller, thus worse than the value of 0.6 from the benchmark.

Ulcer:

'Ulcer Index is a method for measuring investment risk that addresses the real concerns of investors, unlike the widely used standard deviation of return. UI is a measure of the depth and duration of drawdowns in prices from earlier highs. Using Ulcer Index instead of standard deviation can lead to very different conclusions about investment risk and risk-adjusted return, especially when evaluating strategies that seek to avoid major declines in portfolio value (market timing, dynamic asset allocation, hedge funds, etc.). The Ulcer Index was originally developed in 1987. Since then, it has been widely recognized and adopted by the investment community. According to Nelson Freeburg, editor of Formula Research, Ulcer Index is “perhaps the most fully realized statistical portrait of risk there is.'

Applying this definition to our asset in some examples:
  • Compared with the benchmark SPY (8.45 ) in the period of the last 5 years, the Downside risk index of 51 of Align Technology is higher, thus worse.
  • During the last 3 years, the Downside risk index is 34 , which is higher, thus worse than the value of 5.75 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.'

Using this definition on our asset we see for example:
  • Looking at the maximum reduction from previous high of -80.2 days in the last 5 years of Align Technology, we see it is relatively smaller, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (-24.5 days)
  • Compared with SPY (-18.8 days) in the period of the last 3 years, the maximum drop from peak to valley of -62.5 days is smaller, thus worse.

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'

Applying this definition to our asset in some examples:
  • The maximum days under water over 5 years of Align Technology is 911 days, which is greater, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (488 days) in the same period.
  • Compared with SPY (199 days) in the period of the last 3 years, the maximum time in days below previous high water mark of 438 days is higher, 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.'

Using this definition on our asset we see for example:
  • Looking at the average time in days below previous high water mark of 348 days in the last 5 years of Align Technology, we see it is relatively greater, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (118 days)
  • During the last 3 years, the average days under water is 191 days, which is greater, thus worse than the value of 45 days from the benchmark.

Performance (YTD)

Historical returns have been extended using synthetic data.

Allocations ()

Allocations

Returns (%)

  • Note that yearly returns do not equal the sum of monthly returns due to compounding.
  • Performance results of Align Technology are hypothetical and do not account for slippage, fees or taxes.