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 25.6% in the last 5 years of Merck, we see it is relatively lower, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (106.2%)
• Looking at total return, or performance in of 1% in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively smaller, thus worse 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 return (CAGR) over 5 years of Merck is 4.7%, which is lower, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (15.6%) in the same period.
• Compared with SPY (19.5%) in the period of the last 3 years, the annual return (CAGR) of 0.3% is smaller, thus worse.

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 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%)
• Looking at 30 days standard deviation in of 22.5% in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively greater, 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.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (12.2%) in the period of the last 5 years, the downside deviation of 16% of Merck is higher, thus worse.
• Looking at downside volatility in of 16.8% in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively higher, thus worse in comparison to SPY (11.6%).

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.'

• Looking at the ratio of return and volatility (Sharpe) of 0.1 in the last 5 years of Merck, we see it is relatively lower, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (0.74)
• Looking at Sharpe Ratio in of -0.1 in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively lower, 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.'

• Looking at the ratio of annual return and downside deviation of 0.14 in the last 5 years of Merck, we see it is relatively smaller, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (1.08)
• Looking at ratio of annual return and downside deviation in of -0.13 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 Merck is greater, thus worse.
• Looking at Ulcer Ratio in of 16 in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively higher, thus worse in comparison to SPY (5.32 ).

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.'

• Looking at the maximum DrawDown of -43.4 days in the last 5 years of Merck, we see it is relatively lower, 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 -43.4 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'

• The maximum days under water over 5 years of Merck is 271 days, which is lower, thus better compared to the benchmark SPY (488 days) in the same period.
• During the last 3 years, the maximum days under water is 246 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.'

• The average days below previous high over 5 years of Merck is 82 days, which is lower, thus better compared to the benchmark SPY (120 days) in the same period.
• Looking at average time in days below previous high water mark in of 73 days in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively greater, thus worse in comparison to SPY (46 days).