Description

The investment seeks to track the performance of a benchmark index that measures the investment return of stocks issued by companies located in the major markets of the Pacific region. The fund employs an indexing investment approach by investing all, or substantially all, of its assets in the common stocks included in the FTSE Developed Asia Pacific All Cap Index. The FTSE Developed Asia Pacific All Cap Index is a market-capitalization-weighted index.

Statistics (YTD)

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

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.'

Which means for our asset as example:
  • Compared with the benchmark SPY (111.4%) in the period of the last 5 years, the total return, or increase in value of 49.7% of Vanguard Pacific Stock Index Fund is lower, thus worse.
  • Compared with SPY (66.9%) in the period of the last 3 years, the total return, or performance of 51.4% 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.'

Applying this definition to our asset in some examples:
  • The compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) over 5 years of Vanguard Pacific Stock Index Fund is 8.4%, which is lower, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (16.2%) in the same period.
  • During the last 3 years, the compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) is 14.9%, which is lower, thus worse than the value of 18.7% from the benchmark.

Volatility:

'Volatility is a rate at which the price of a security increases or decreases for a given set of returns. Volatility is measured by calculating the standard deviation of the annualized returns over a given period of time. It shows the range to which the price of a security may increase or decrease. Volatility measures the risk of a security. It is used in option pricing formula to gauge the fluctuations in the returns of the underlying assets. Volatility indicates the pricing behavior of the security and helps estimate the fluctuations that may happen in a short period of time.'

Applying this definition to our asset in some examples:
  • Looking at the historical 30 days volatility of 15.6% in the last 5 years of Vanguard Pacific Stock Index Fund, we see it is relatively lower, thus better in comparison to the benchmark SPY (17.3%)
  • Looking at volatility in of 15.9% in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively lower, thus better in comparison to SPY (16.9%).

DownVol:

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

Which means for our asset as example:
  • The downside volatility over 5 years of Vanguard Pacific Stock Index Fund is 10.8%, which is lower, thus better compared to the benchmark SPY (11.9%) in the same period.
  • Compared with SPY (11.2%) in the period of the last 3 years, the downside volatility of 10.7% is smaller, 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.'

Using this definition on our asset we see for example:
  • Compared with the benchmark SPY (0.79) in the period of the last 5 years, the Sharpe Ratio of 0.38 of Vanguard Pacific Stock Index Fund is smaller, thus worse.
  • Compared with SPY (0.96) in the period of the last 3 years, the ratio of return and volatility (Sharpe) of 0.78 is smaller, thus worse.

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.'

Using this definition on our asset we see for example:
  • Looking at the downside risk / excess return profile of 0.55 in the last 5 years of Vanguard Pacific Stock Index Fund, we see it is relatively lower, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (1.15)
  • Looking at downside risk / excess return profile in of 1.16 in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively lower, thus worse in comparison to SPY (1.44).

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.'

Using this definition on our asset we see for example:
  • The Ulcer Ratio over 5 years of Vanguard Pacific Stock Index Fund is 12 , which is larger, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (8.43 ) in the same period.
  • During the last 3 years, the Ulcer Ratio is 4.69 , which is larger, thus worse than the value of 4.21 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.'

Which means for our asset as example:
  • Compared with the benchmark SPY (-24.5 days) in the period of the last 5 years, the maximum reduction from previous high of -31.3 days of Vanguard Pacific Stock Index Fund is smaller, thus worse.
  • Compared with SPY (-18.8 days) in the period of the last 3 years, the maximum reduction from previous high of -16.4 days is larger, thus better.

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:
  • Looking at the maximum days below previous high of 761 days in the last 5 years of Vanguard Pacific Stock Index Fund, 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 164 days, which is higher, thus worse than the value of 97 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.'

Which means for our asset as example:
  • The average days under water over 5 years of Vanguard Pacific Stock Index Fund is 260 days, which is larger, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (120 days) in the same period.
  • Compared with SPY (27 days) in the period of the last 3 years, the average days below previous high of 41 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 Vanguard Pacific Stock Index Fund are hypothetical and do not account for slippage, fees or taxes.