Paychex (PAYX)

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 121% in the last 5 years of Paychex, we see it is relatively larger, thus better in comparison to the benchmark SPY (115.1%)
• Compared with SPY (71.1%) in the period of the last 3 years, the total return of 37.9% is smaller, thus worse.

CAGR:

'Compound annual growth rate (CAGR) is a business and investing specific term for the geometric progression ratio that provides a constant rate of return over the time period. CAGR is not an accounting term, but it is often used to describe some element of the business, for example revenue, units delivered, registered users, etc. CAGR dampens the effect of volatility of periodic returns that can render arithmetic means irrelevant. It is particularly useful to compare growth rates from various data sets of common domain such as revenue growth of companies in the same industry.'

• The annual performance (CAGR) over 5 years of Paychex is 17.2%, which is higher, thus better compared to the benchmark SPY (16.6%) in the same period.
• During the last 3 years, the compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) is 11.4%, which is lower, thus worse than the value of 19.7% from the benchmark.

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.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (17.5%) in the period of the last 5 years, the historical 30 days volatility of 23% of Paychex is higher, thus worse.
• During the last 3 years, the historical 30 days volatility is 22.9%, which is greater, thus worse than the value of 17.5% from the benchmark.

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 volatility of 16.2% in the last 5 years of Paychex, we see it is relatively higher, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (12.1%)
• During the last 3 years, the downside volatility is 16.2%, which is greater, thus worse than the value of 11.5% 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.'

• The ratio of return and volatility (Sharpe) over 5 years of Paychex is 0.64, which is smaller, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (0.8) in the same period.
• During the last 3 years, the Sharpe Ratio is 0.39, which is smaller, thus worse than the value of 0.98 from the benchmark.

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 (1.17) in the period of the last 5 years, the ratio of annual return and downside deviation of 0.91 of Paychex is lower, thus worse.
• During the last 3 years, the ratio of annual return and downside deviation is 0.55, which is lower, thus worse than the value of 1.49 from the benchmark.

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 10 of Paychex is greater, thus worse.
• During the last 3 years, the Ulcer Ratio is 11 , which is larger, thus worse than the value of 5.31 from the benchmark.

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 drop from peak to valley of -23.4 days in the last 5 years of Paychex, we see it is relatively greater, thus better 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 DrawDown of -23.2 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) in days.'

• Looking at the maximum time in days below previous high water mark of 603 days in the last 5 years of Paychex, we see it is relatively greater, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (488 days)
• During the last 3 years, the maximum days below previous high is 510 days, which is larger, 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 Paychex is 167 days, which is greater, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (120 days) in the same period.
• During the last 3 years, the average days below previous high is 189 days, which is higher, thus worse than the value of 47 days from the benchmark.