Merck (MRK)

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.'

• Looking at the total return, or performance of 25.3% in the last 5 years of Merck, we see it is relatively smaller, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (115.2%)
• Compared with SPY (70.9%) in the period of the last 3 years, the total return of -5.2% is lower, thus worse.

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.'

• Looking at the annual performance (CAGR) of 4.6% in the last 5 years of Merck, we see it is relatively lower, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (16.6%)
• Looking at compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) in of -1.8% in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively lower, thus worse in comparison to SPY (19.7%).

Volatility:

'Volatility is a statistical measure of the dispersion of returns for a given security or market index. Volatility can either be measured by using the standard deviation or variance between returns from that same security or market index. Commonly, the higher the volatility, the riskier the security. In the securities markets, volatility is often associated with big swings in either direction. For example, when the stock market rises and falls more than one percent over a sustained period of time, it is called a 'volatile' market.'

• Looking at the historical 30 days volatility of 22% in the last 5 years of Merck, we see it is relatively greater, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (17.6%)
• Compared with SPY (17.5%) in the period of the last 3 years, the 30 days standard deviation of 22.2% is greater, thus worse.

DownVol:

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

• Looking at the downside deviation of 15.9% in the last 5 years of Merck, we see it is relatively greater, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (12.1%)
• During the last 3 years, the downside volatility is 16.7%, which is larger, thus worse than the value of 11.6% from the benchmark.

Sharpe:

'The Sharpe ratio (also known as the Sharpe index, the Sharpe measure, and the reward-to-variability ratio) is a way to examine the performance of an investment by adjusting for its risk. The ratio measures the excess return (or risk premium) per unit of deviation in an investment asset or a trading strategy, typically referred to as risk, named after William F. Sharpe.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (0.81) in the period of the last 5 years, the ratio of return and volatility (Sharpe) of 0.1 of Merck is smaller, thus worse.
• During the last 3 years, the ratio of return and volatility (Sharpe) is -0.19, which is smaller, thus worse than the value of 0.98 from the benchmark.

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.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (1.17) in the period of the last 5 years, the ratio of annual return and downside deviation of 0.13 of Merck is lower, thus worse.
• Looking at excess return divided by the downside deviation in of -0.26 in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively lower, thus worse in comparison to SPY (1.49).

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.'

• Looking at the Downside risk index of 14 in the last 5 years of Merck, we see it is relatively greater, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (8.48 )
• Compared with SPY (5.31 ) in the period of the last 3 years, the Downside risk index of 16 is greater, thus worse.

MaxDD:

'Maximum drawdown measures the loss in any losing period during a fund’s investment record. It is defined as the percent retrenchment from a fund’s peak value to the fund’s valley value. The drawdown is in effect from the time the fund’s retrenchment begins until a new fund high is reached. The maximum drawdown encompasses both the period from the fund’s peak to the fund’s valley (length), and the time from the fund’s valley to a new fund high (recovery). It measures the largest percentage drawdown that has occurred in any fund’s data record.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (-24.5 days) in the period of the last 5 years, the maximum drop from peak to valley of -43.4 days of Merck is lower, thus worse.
• Looking at maximum DrawDown in of -43.4 days in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively smaller, thus worse 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'

• The maximum time in days below previous high water mark over 5 years of Merck is 271 days, which is lower, thus better compared to the benchmark SPY (488 days) in the same period.
• Looking at maximum time in days below previous high water mark in of 254 days in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively greater, thus worse in comparison to SPY (199 days).

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 time in days below previous high water mark over 5 years of Merck is 84 days, which is smaller, thus better compared to the benchmark SPY (120 days) in the same period.
• Compared with SPY (47 days) in the period of the last 3 years, the average days below previous high of 76 days is larger, thus worse.