American Express (AXP)

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.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (106.1%) in the period of the last 5 years, the total return, or performance of 209.8% of American Express is greater, thus better.
• Looking at total return, or performance in of 113.9% in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively greater, thus better in comparison to SPY (69.9%).

CAGR:

'The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) is a useful measure of growth over multiple time periods. It can be thought of as the growth rate that gets you from the initial investment value to the ending investment value if you assume that the investment has been compounding over the time period.'

• The annual performance (CAGR) over 5 years of American Express is 25.5%, which is higher, thus better compared to the benchmark SPY (15.6%) in the same period.
• Compared with SPY (19.4%) in the period of the last 3 years, the compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 29% is larger, thus better.

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.'

• Looking at the volatility of 31.4% in the last 5 years of American Express, we see it is relatively larger, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (17.6%)
• Looking at historical 30 days volatility in of 28.5% in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively higher, thus worse in comparison to SPY (17.7%).

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 volatility of 20.2% in the last 5 years of American Express, we see it is relatively higher, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (12.2%)
• Compared with SPY (11.6%) in the period of the last 3 years, the downside deviation of 18.5% is larger, 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.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (0.74) in the period of the last 5 years, the risk / return profile (Sharpe) of 0.73 of American Express is lower, thus worse.
• Looking at ratio of return and volatility (Sharpe) in of 0.93 in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively smaller, thus worse in comparison to SPY (0.96).

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.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (1.08) in the period of the last 5 years, the ratio of annual return and downside deviation of 1.13 of American Express is greater, thus better.
• Looking at ratio of annual return and downside deviation in of 1.43 in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively smaller, thus worse in comparison to SPY (1.46).

Ulcer:

'The Ulcer Index is a technical indicator that measures downside risk, in terms of both the depth and duration of price declines. The index increases in value as the price moves farther away from a recent high and falls as the price rises to new highs. The indicator is usually calculated over a 14-day period, with the Ulcer Index showing the percentage drawdown a trader can expect from the high over that period. The greater the value of the Ulcer Index, the longer it takes for a stock to get back to the former high.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (8.48 ) in the period of the last 5 years, the Ulcer Ratio of 13 of American Express is greater, thus worse.
• Compared with SPY (5.31 ) in the period of the last 3 years, the Ulcer Index of 9.07 is higher, thus worse.

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.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (-24.5 days) in the period of the last 5 years, the maximum reduction from previous high of -31.5 days of American Express is smaller, thus worse.
• Compared with SPY (-18.8 days) in the period of the last 3 years, the maximum DrawDown of -28.8 days is lower, 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'

• Looking at the maximum days below previous high of 486 days in the last 5 years of American Express, we see it is relatively lower, thus better in comparison to the benchmark SPY (488 days)
• Compared with SPY (199 days) in the period of the last 3 years, the maximum time in days below previous high water mark of 211 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.'

• Looking at the average time in days below previous high water mark of 116 days in the last 5 years of American Express, we see it is relatively lower, thus better in comparison to the benchmark SPY (120 days)
• During the last 3 years, the average time in days below previous high water mark is 54 days, which is greater, thus worse than the value of 46 days from the benchmark.