VeriSign (VRSN)

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 of 69.8% in the last 5 years of VeriSign, we see it is relatively larger, thus better in comparison to the benchmark SPY (68.1%)
• Compared with SPY (47%) in the period of the last 3 years, the total return, or increase in value of -2.3% 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 VeriSign is 11.2%, which is higher, thus better compared to the benchmark SPY (11%) in the same period.
• Compared with SPY (13.7%) in the period of the last 3 years, the compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of -0.8% is smaller, thus worse.

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.'

• Looking at the 30 days standard deviation of 30% in the last 5 years of VeriSign, we see it is relatively larger, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (21.4%)
• Compared with SPY (18.7%) in the period of the last 3 years, the 30 days standard deviation of 32.5% is larger, thus worse.

DownVol:

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

• Looking at the downside risk of 20.7% in the last 5 years of VeriSign, we see it is relatively greater, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (15.4%)
• Looking at downside deviation in of 23% in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively higher, thus worse in comparison to SPY (13.3%).

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 Sharpe Ratio over 5 years of VeriSign is 0.29, which is smaller, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (0.4) in the same period.
• Compared with SPY (0.6) in the period of the last 3 years, the ratio of return and volatility (Sharpe) of -0.1 is smaller, thus worse.

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.'

• The downside risk / excess return profile over 5 years of VeriSign is 0.42, which is lower, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (0.55) in the same period.
• Looking at downside risk / excess return profile in of -0.14 in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively lower, thus worse in comparison to SPY (0.84).

Ulcer:

'Ulcer Index is a method for measuring investment risk that addresses the real concerns of investors, unlike the widely used standard deviation of return. UI is a measure of the depth and duration of drawdowns in prices from earlier highs. Using Ulcer Index instead of standard deviation can lead to very different conclusions about investment risk and risk-adjusted return, especially when evaluating strategies that seek to avoid major declines in portfolio value (market timing, dynamic asset allocation, hedge funds, etc.). The Ulcer Index was originally developed in 1987. Since then, it has been widely recognized and adopted by the investment community. According to Nelson Freeburg, editor of Formula Research, Ulcer Index is “perhaps the most fully realized statistical portrait of risk there is.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (9.45 ) in the period of the last 5 years, the Ulcer Index of 14 of VeriSign is larger, thus worse.
• Compared with SPY (10 ) in the period of the last 3 years, the Downside risk index of 16 is higher, 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.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (-33.7 days) in the period of the last 5 years, the maximum drop from peak to valley of -38.8 days of VeriSign is lower, thus worse.
• During the last 3 years, the maximum drop from peak to valley is -38.8 days, which is lower, thus worse than the value of -24.5 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) in days.'

• Looking at the maximum time in days below previous high water mark of 453 days in the last 5 years of VeriSign, we see it is relatively greater, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (351 days)
• Compared with SPY (351 days) in the period of the last 3 years, the maximum time in days below previous high water mark of 286 days is smaller, thus better.

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.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (78 days) in the period of the last 5 years, the average days under water of 131 days of VeriSign is larger, thus worse.
• Looking at average days below previous high in of 84 days in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively lower, thus better in comparison to SPY (101 days).