Description

Activision Blizzard, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, develops and distributes content and services on video game consoles, personal computers (PC), and mobile devices in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. The company operates through three segments: Activision Publishing, Inc.; Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.; and King Digital Entertainment. It develops, publishes, and sells interactive software products and entertainment content for the console and PC platforms through retail and digital channels, including subscription, full-game, and in-game sales, as well as by licensing software to third-party or related-party companies; and offer downloadable content. The company also maintains a proprietary online gaming service, Battle.net that facilitates the creation of user generated content, digital distribution, and online social connectivity in its games; and develops and publishes interactive entertainment content and services primarily on mobile platforms, such as Android and iOS, as well as distributes its content and services on the PC platform primarily through Facebook. In addition, it operate esports leagues and offer digital advertising content; and provides warehousing, logistics, and sales distribution services to third-party publishers of interactive entertainment software, as well as manufacturers of interactive entertainment hardware products. The company's key product franchises include Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Diablo, Hearthstone, Overwatch, and Candy Crush. It serves retailers and distributors, including mass-market retailers, first party digital storefronts, consumer electronics stores, discount warehouses, and game specialty stores through third-party distribution and licensing arrangements. Activision Blizzard, Inc. was incorporated in 1979 and is headquartered in Santa Monica, 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.'

Applying this definition to our asset in some examples:
  • Compared with the benchmark SPY (107.6%) in the period of the last 5 years, the total return, or performance of 25.6% of Activision Blizzard is lower, thus worse.
  • Compared with SPY (48.1%) in the period of the last 3 years, the total return of 17.7% is smaller, thus worse.

CAGR:

'The compound annual growth rate isn't a true return rate, but rather a representational figure. It is essentially a number that describes the rate at which an investment would have grown if it had grown the same rate every year and the profits were reinvested at the end of each year. In reality, this sort of performance is unlikely. However, CAGR can be used to smooth returns so that they may be more easily understood when compared to alternative investments.'

Which means for our asset as example:
  • Compared with the benchmark SPY (15.8%) in the period of the last 5 years, the compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.7% of Activision Blizzard is smaller, thus worse.
  • Looking at compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) in of 5.6% in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively smaller, thus worse in comparison to SPY (14%).

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.'

Applying this definition to our asset in some examples:
  • The historical 30 days volatility over 5 years of Activision Blizzard is 33.9%, which is greater, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (17.9%) in the same period.
  • Looking at historical 30 days volatility in of 28.7% in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively larger, thus worse in comparison to SPY (18.3%).

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.'

Applying this definition to our asset in some examples:
  • The downside deviation over 5 years of Activision Blizzard is 23.7%, which is greater, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (12.5%) in the same period.
  • During the last 3 years, the downside deviation is 18.2%, which is greater, thus worse than the value of 12.4% 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.'

Using this definition on our asset we see for example:
  • Looking at the risk / return profile (Sharpe) of 0.06 in the last 5 years of Activision Blizzard, we see it is relatively lower, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (0.74)
  • Compared with SPY (0.63) in the period of the last 3 years, the ratio of return and volatility (Sharpe) of 0.11 is lower, thus worse.

Sortino:

'The Sortino ratio improves upon the Sharpe ratio by isolating downside volatility from total volatility by dividing excess return by the downside deviation. The Sortino ratio is a variation of the Sharpe ratio that differentiates harmful volatility from total overall volatility by using the asset's standard deviation of negative asset returns, called downside deviation. The Sortino ratio takes the asset's return and subtracts the risk-free rate, and then divides that amount by the asset's downside deviation. The ratio was named after Frank A. Sortino.'

Applying this definition to our asset in some examples:
  • The downside risk / excess return profile over 5 years of Activision Blizzard is 0.09, which is lower, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (1.06) in the same period.
  • During the last 3 years, the excess return divided by the downside deviation is 0.17, which is lower, thus worse than the value of 0.93 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:
  • Looking at the Downside risk index of 25 in the last 5 years of Activision Blizzard, we see it is relatively higher, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (8.48 )
  • Looking at Downside risk index in of 21 in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively greater, thus worse in comparison to SPY (5.54 ).

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.'

Applying this definition to our asset in some examples:
  • Compared with the benchmark SPY (-24.5 days) in the period of the last 5 years, the maximum drop from peak to valley of -49.1 days of Activision Blizzard is lower, thus worse.
  • Compared with SPY (-18.8 days) in the period of the last 3 years, the maximum drop from peak to valley of -44.6 days is lower, thus worse.

MaxDuration:

'The Maximum Drawdown Duration is an extension of the Maximum Drawdown. However, this metric does not explain the drawdown in dollars or percentages, rather in days, weeks, or months. It is the length of time the account was in the Max Drawdown. A Max Drawdown measures a retrenchment from when an equity curve reaches a new high. It’s the maximum an account lost during that retrenchment. This method is applied because a valley can’t be measured until a new high occurs. Once the new high is reached, the percentage change from the old high to the bottom of the largest trough is recorded.'

Applying this definition to our asset in some examples:
  • Looking at the maximum days below previous high of 671 days in the last 5 years of Activision Blizzard, we see it is relatively larger, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (488 days)
  • During the last 3 years, the maximum days under water is 671 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.'

Which means for our asset as example:
  • Compared with the benchmark SPY (119 days) in the period of the last 5 years, the average days under water of 261 days of Activision Blizzard is greater, thus worse.
  • Looking at average days below previous high in of 307 days in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively higher, thus worse in comparison to SPY (45 days).

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 Activision Blizzard are hypothetical and do not account for slippage, fees or taxes.