Description

Staples, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates office products superstores. It operates in two segments, North American Delivery and North American Retail. The company offers a range of office supplies, business technology products, facility and breakroom supplies, computers and mobility products, and office furniture under the Staples, Quill, and other proprietary brands. It also provides print and marketing, as well as technology services. The company sells its office products and services directly to businesses and consumers through its Staples.com, Staples.ca, and Quill.com Websites; and retail stores, as well as Staples Business Advantage contracts. As of January 28, 2017, it operated approximately 1,583 retail stores in 46 states and the District of Columbia in the United States, and 10 provinces and 2 territories in Canada, as well as in Argentina, Australia, and Brazil; 78 distribution and fulfillment centers in 25 states in the United States and 7 provinces in Canada, as well as in China, Argentina, Brazil, Taiwan, and Australia. The company was founded in 1985 and is based in Framingham, Massachusetts.

Statistics (YTD)

What do these metrics mean? [Read More] [Hide]

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.'

Using this definition on our asset we see for example:
  • Compared with the benchmark SPY (101.9%) in the period of the last 5 years, the total return, or performance of 9.1% of Staples is smaller, thus worse.
  • Compared with SPY (33.5%) in the period of the last 3 years, the total return of -9.5% is lower, thus worse.

CAGR:

'The compound annual growth rate isn't a true return rate, but rather a representational figure. It is essentially a number that describes the rate at which an investment would have grown if it had grown the same rate every year and the profits were reinvested at the end of each year. In reality, this sort of performance is unlikely. However, CAGR can be used to smooth returns so that they may be more easily understood when compared to alternative investments.'

Applying this definition to our asset in some examples:
  • Looking at the annual return (CAGR) of 1.8% in the last 5 years of Staples, we see it is relatively lower, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (15.1%)
  • Compared with SPY (10.1%) in the period of the last 3 years, the compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of -3.3% is lower, thus worse.

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.'

Applying this definition to our asset in some examples:
  • Compared with the benchmark SPY (21%) in the period of the last 5 years, the historical 30 days volatility of 33.1% of Staples is larger, thus worse.
  • Compared with SPY (17.5%) in the period of the last 3 years, the historical 30 days volatility of 33.2% is larger, thus worse.

DownVol:

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

Using this definition on our asset we see for example:
  • Compared with the benchmark SPY (15%) in the period of the last 5 years, the downside deviation of 24.7% of Staples is greater, thus worse.
  • During the last 3 years, the downside risk is 24.4%, which is larger, thus worse than the value of 12.3% 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.'

Using this definition on our asset we see for example:
  • Compared with the benchmark SPY (0.6) in the period of the last 5 years, the Sharpe Ratio of -0.02 of Staples is smaller, thus worse.
  • During the last 3 years, the Sharpe Ratio is -0.17, which is smaller, thus worse than the value of 0.44 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.'

Using this definition on our asset we see for example:
  • Compared with the benchmark SPY (0.84) in the period of the last 5 years, the downside risk / excess return profile of -0.03 of Staples is lower, thus worse.
  • During the last 3 years, the ratio of annual return and downside deviation is -0.24, which is lower, thus worse than the value of 0.62 from the benchmark.

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.'

Which means for our asset as example:
  • Compared with the benchmark SPY (9.32 ) in the period of the last 5 years, the Downside risk index of 32 of Staples is larger, thus worse.
  • Compared with SPY (10 ) in the period of the last 3 years, the Ulcer Index of 39 is greater, 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.'

Using this definition on our asset we see for example:
  • Compared with the benchmark SPY (-33.7 days) in the period of the last 5 years, the maximum drop from peak to valley of -58.6 days of Staples is lower, thus worse.
  • Compared with SPY (-24.5 days) in the period of the last 3 years, the maximum DrawDown of -58.6 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'

Using this definition on our asset we see for example:
  • Looking at the maximum days under water of 657 days in the last 5 years of Staples, we see it is relatively larger, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (488 days)
  • Compared with SPY (488 days) in the period of the last 3 years, the maximum days under water of 657 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.'

Which means for our asset as example:
  • The average days under water over 5 years of Staples is 229 days, which is larger, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (122 days) in the same period.
  • Compared with SPY (177 days) in the period of the last 3 years, the average days under water of 298 days is higher, thus worse.

Performance (YTD)

Historical returns have been extended using synthetic data.

Allocations ()

Allocations

Returns (%)

  • Note that yearly returns do not equal the sum of monthly returns due to compounding.
  • Performance results of Staples are hypothetical and do not account for slippage, fees or taxes.