Vanguard Small Cap Index Fund (NAESX)

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 (84.4%) in the period of the last 5 years, the total return, or performance of 36.7% of Vanguard Small Cap Index Fund is lower, thus worse.
• During the last 3 years, the total return, or increase in value is 58.1%, which is lower, thus worse than the value of 79.6% from the benchmark.

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.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (13.1%) in the period of the last 5 years, the annual return (CAGR) of 6.5% of Vanguard Small Cap Index Fund is smaller, thus worse.
• During the last 3 years, the annual return (CAGR) is 16.6%, which is smaller, thus worse than the value of 21.6% from the benchmark.

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 20.8% in the last 5 years of Vanguard Small Cap Index Fund, we see it is relatively greater, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (17.1%)
• Looking at historical 30 days volatility in of 19% in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively higher, thus worse in comparison to SPY (15.2%).

DownVol:

'Downside risk is the financial risk associated with losses. That is, it is the risk of the actual return being below the expected return, or the uncertainty about the magnitude of that difference. 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 risk of 14.4% in the last 5 years of Vanguard Small Cap Index Fund, we see it is relatively greater, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (11.8%)
• Compared with SPY (10.1%) in the period of the last 3 years, the downside risk of 12.7% is higher, thus worse.

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.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (0.62) in the period of the last 5 years, the Sharpe Ratio of 0.19 of Vanguard Small Cap Index Fund is lower, thus worse.
• Looking at Sharpe Ratio in of 0.74 in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively lower, thus worse in comparison to SPY (1.26).

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.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (0.9) in the period of the last 5 years, the ratio of annual return and downside deviation of 0.28 of Vanguard Small Cap Index Fund is smaller, thus worse.
• Compared with SPY (1.89) in the period of the last 3 years, the excess return divided by the downside deviation of 1.11 is lower, thus worse.

Ulcer:

'The ulcer index is a stock market risk measure or technical analysis indicator devised by Peter Martin in 1987, and published by him and Byron McCann in their 1989 book The Investors Guide to Fidelity Funds. It's designed as a measure of volatility, but only volatility in the downward direction, i.e. the amount of drawdown or retracement occurring over a period. Other volatility measures like standard deviation treat up and down movement equally, but a trader doesn't mind upward movement, it's the downside that causes stress and stomach ulcers that the index's name suggests.'

• Looking at the Ulcer Index of 12 in the last 5 years of Vanguard Small Cap Index Fund, we see it is relatively higher, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (8.45 )
• Looking at Ulcer Index in of 6.43 in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively greater, thus worse in comparison to SPY (3.5 ).

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.'

• The maximum DrawDown over 5 years of Vanguard Small Cap Index Fund is -28.2 days, which is smaller, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (-24.5 days) in the same period.
• Looking at maximum drop from peak to valley in of -25.3 days in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively lower, 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) in days.'

• The maximum days under water over 5 years of Vanguard Small Cap Index Fund is 671 days, which is larger, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (488 days) in the same period.
• Compared with SPY (87 days) in the period of the last 3 years, the maximum time in days below previous high water mark of 201 days is larger, 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.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (119 days) in the period of the last 5 years, the average time in days below previous high water mark of 209 days of Vanguard Small Cap Index Fund is larger, thus worse.
• Looking at average time in days below previous high water mark in of 45 days in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively higher, thus worse in comparison to SPY (20 days).