Description

As of December 4, 2019, Viacom Inc. was acquired by CBS Corporation. Viacom Inc. operates media brands that create entertainment content worldwide. It operates in two segments, Media Networks and Filmed Entertainment. The Media Networks segment offers entertainment content, services, and related branded products to advertisers, content distributors, and retailers through approximately 320 locally programmed and operated television channels, including Nickelodeon, MTV, BET, Comedy Central, Paramount Network, Nick Jr., VH1, TV Land, CMT, Logo, Channel 5, Milkshake!, Telefe, COLORS, Paramount Channel, TeenNick, Nicktoons, Nick Music, MTV2, MTV Classic, MTV Live, BET Her, BET Gospel, and BET Hip Hop, as well as through online, mobile, and apps. The Filmed Entertainment segment develops, produces, finances, acquires, and distributes films, television programming, and other entertainment content under the Paramount Pictures, Paramount Players, Paramount Animation, Paramount Television, Nickelodeon Movies, MTV Films, and BET Films brands. This segment exhibits films theatrically through home entertainment, licensing to television and digital platforms, and ancillary activities. The company releases its content through DVDs, Blu-ray discs, syndication and transactional video-on-demand, subscription video-on-demand, over-the-top distributors, pay television, cable television, free television, and free video-on-demand, as well as airlines and hotels. Viacom Inc. was incorporated in 2005 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

Statistics (YTD)

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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.'

Which means for our asset as example:
  • Compared with the benchmark SPY (94.2%) in the period of the last 5 years, the total return of -62.8% of Viacom is lower, thus worse.
  • Compared with SPY (34.4%) in the period of the last 3 years, the total return, or increase in value of -28.3% is smaller, 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.'

Using this definition on our asset we see for example:
  • Looking at the compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of -18% in the last 5 years of Viacom, we see it is relatively lower, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (14.2%)
  • Compared with SPY (10.4%) in the period of the last 3 years, the annual return (CAGR) of -10.5% 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.'

Using this definition on our asset we see for example:
  • The historical 30 days volatility over 5 years of Viacom is 34.9%, which is larger, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (21%) in the same period.
  • Looking at 30 days standard deviation in of 32.4% in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively larger, thus worse in comparison to SPY (17.5%).

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.'

Which means for our asset as example:
  • Compared with the benchmark SPY (15%) in the period of the last 5 years, the downside deviation of 26.5% of Viacom is larger, thus worse.
  • Compared with SPY (12.3%) in the period of the last 3 years, the downside deviation of 23.8% is greater, 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.'

Applying this definition to our asset in some examples:
  • Compared with the benchmark SPY (0.56) in the period of the last 5 years, the risk / return profile (Sharpe) of -0.59 of Viacom is smaller, thus worse.
  • Compared with SPY (0.45) in the period of the last 3 years, the Sharpe Ratio of -0.4 is lower, thus worse.

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.'

Using this definition on our asset we see for example:
  • Compared with the benchmark SPY (0.78) in the period of the last 5 years, the excess return divided by the downside deviation of -0.77 of Viacom is smaller, 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 0.64 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.'

Applying this definition to our asset in some examples:
  • The Ulcer Index over 5 years of Viacom is 50 , which is greater, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (9.33 ) in the same period.
  • During the last 3 years, the Downside risk index is 33 , which is higher, thus worse than the value of 8.87 from the benchmark.

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.'

Applying this definition to our asset in some examples:
  • Compared with the benchmark SPY (-33.7 days) in the period of the last 5 years, the maximum DrawDown of -68.6 days of Viacom is lower, thus worse.
  • During the last 3 years, the maximum drop from peak to valley is -51.3 days, which is lower, thus worse than the value of -22.4 days from the benchmark.

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'

Which means for our asset as example:
  • The maximum days under water over 5 years of Viacom is 1245 days, which is higher, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (488 days) in the same period.
  • Compared with SPY (375 days) in the period of the last 3 years, the maximum days below previous high of 674 days is greater, 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:
  • Compared with the benchmark SPY (122 days) in the period of the last 5 years, the average time in days below previous high water mark of 618 days of Viacom is larger, thus worse.
  • Compared with SPY (113 days) in the period of the last 3 years, the average days below previous high of 310 days is larger, 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 Viacom are hypothetical and do not account for slippage, fees or taxes.