Vanguard Intermediate Term Treasury Fund (VFITX)

TotalReturn:

'The total return on a portfolio of investments takes into account not only the capital appreciation on the portfolio, but also the income received on the portfolio. The income typically consists of interest, dividends, and securities lending fees. This contrasts with the price return, which takes into account only the capital gain on an investment.'

• Looking at the total return, or increase in value of -1.3% in the last 5 years of Vanguard Intermediate Term Treasury Fund, we see it is relatively smaller, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (105.3%)
• During the last 3 years, the total return is 15.1%, which is lower, thus worse than the value of 85.6% from the benchmark.

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.'

• Looking at the annual performance (CAGR) of -0.3% in the last 5 years of Vanguard Intermediate Term Treasury Fund, we see it is relatively lower, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (15.5%)
• During the last 3 years, the annual return (CAGR) is 4.8%, which is smaller, thus worse than the value of 23% 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.'

• The 30 days standard deviation over 5 years of Vanguard Intermediate Term Treasury Fund is 5.6%, which is lower, thus better compared to the benchmark SPY (17.1%) in the same period.
• Compared with SPY (16%) in the period of the last 3 years, the volatility of 5.9% is lower, thus better.

DownVol:

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

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (11.7%) in the period of the last 5 years, the downside volatility of 3.8% of Vanguard Intermediate Term Treasury Fund is lower, thus better.
• Compared with SPY (10.5%) in the period of the last 3 years, the downside deviation of 3.8% is lower, thus better.

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 (0.76) in the period of the last 5 years, the risk / return profile (Sharpe) of -0.5 of Vanguard Intermediate Term Treasury Fund is lower, thus worse.
• Looking at ratio of return and volatility (Sharpe) in of 0.39 in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively smaller, thus worse in comparison to SPY (1.28).

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.'

• Looking at the downside risk / excess return profile of -0.72 in the last 5 years of Vanguard Intermediate Term Treasury Fund, we see it is relatively lower, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (1.11)
• Compared with SPY (1.96) in the period of the last 3 years, the downside risk / excess return profile of 0.6 is lower, thus worse.

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 8.07 in the last 5 years of Vanguard Intermediate Term Treasury Fund, we see it is relatively lower, thus better in comparison to the benchmark SPY (8.42 )
• During the last 3 years, the Ulcer Index is 2.47 , which is lower, thus better than the value of 3.61 from the benchmark.

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.'

• Looking at the maximum drop from peak to valley of -15.1 days in the last 5 years of Vanguard Intermediate Term Treasury Fund, we see it is relatively larger, 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 reduction from previous high of -7 days is larger, thus better.

MaxDuration:

'The Maximum Drawdown Duration is an extension of the Maximum Drawdown. However, this metric does not explain the drawdown in dollars or percentages, rather in days, weeks, or months. It is the length of time the account was in the Max Drawdown. A Max Drawdown measures a retrenchment from when an equity curve reaches a new high. It’s the maximum an account lost during that retrenchment. This method is applied because a valley can’t be measured until a new high occurs. Once the new high is reached, the percentage change from the old high to the bottom of the largest trough is recorded.'

• The maximum days below previous high over 5 years of Vanguard Intermediate Term Treasury Fund is 1217 days, which is greater, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (488 days) in the same period.
• Looking at maximum days below previous high in of 186 days in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively higher, thus worse in comparison to SPY (87 days).

AveDuration:

'The Average Drawdown Duration is an extension of the Maximum Drawdown. However, this metric does not explain the drawdown in dollars or percentages, rather in days, weeks, or months. 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.'

• Looking at the average days under water of 596 days in the last 5 years of Vanguard Intermediate Term Treasury Fund, we see it is relatively larger, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (120 days)
• Compared with SPY (21 days) in the period of the last 3 years, the average time in days below previous high water mark of 51 days is larger, thus worse.