Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX)

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.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (107.8%) in the period of the last 5 years, the total return, or performance of 82.5% of Vertex Pharmaceuticals is smaller, thus worse.
• Compared with SPY (34.1%) in the period of the last 3 years, the total return of 82.1% is greater, thus better.

CAGR:

'The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) is a useful measure of growth over multiple time periods. It can be thought of as the growth rate that gets you from the initial investment value to the ending investment value if you assume that the investment has been compounding over the time period.'

• Looking at the compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.8% in the last 5 years of Vertex Pharmaceuticals, we see it is relatively smaller, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (15.8%)
• Compared with SPY (10.3%) in the period of the last 3 years, the compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 22.2% is greater, thus better.

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.'

• The historical 30 days volatility over 5 years of Vertex Pharmaceuticals is 29%, which is larger, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (18%) in the same period.
• During the last 3 years, the volatility is 27.2%, which is greater, thus worse than the value of 18.8% from the benchmark.

DownVol:

'Downside risk is the financial risk associated with losses. That is, it is the risk of the actual return being below the expected return, or the uncertainty about the magnitude of that difference. 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.'

• Looking at the downside risk of 21.3% in the last 5 years of Vertex Pharmaceuticals, we see it is relatively higher, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (12.5%)
• Compared with SPY (13%) in the period of the last 3 years, the downside risk of 19% is higher, thus worse.

Sharpe:

'The Sharpe ratio is the measure of risk-adjusted return of a financial portfolio. Sharpe ratio is a measure of excess portfolio return over the risk-free rate relative to its standard deviation. Normally, the 90-day Treasury bill rate is taken as the proxy for risk-free rate. A portfolio with a higher Sharpe ratio is considered superior relative to its peers. The measure was named after William F Sharpe, a Nobel laureate and professor of finance, emeritus at Stanford University.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (0.74) in the period of the last 5 years, the Sharpe Ratio of 0.36 of Vertex Pharmaceuticals is lower, thus worse.
• Looking at risk / return profile (Sharpe) in of 0.72 in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively larger, thus better in comparison to SPY (0.41).

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.'

• The ratio of annual return and downside deviation over 5 years of Vertex Pharmaceuticals is 0.49, which is lower, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (1.06) in the same period.
• Compared with SPY (0.6) in the period of the last 3 years, the ratio of annual return and downside deviation of 1.04 is higher, thus better.

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.'

• The Ulcer Ratio over 5 years of Vertex Pharmaceuticals is 18 , which is larger, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (8.45 ) in the same period.
• Compared with SPY (5.73 ) in the period of the last 3 years, the Ulcer Ratio of 6.74 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 (-24.5 days) in the period of the last 5 years, the maximum DrawDown of -41.6 days of Vertex Pharmaceuticals is lower, thus worse.
• Compared with SPY (-18.8 days) in the period of the last 3 years, the maximum drop from peak to valley of -23.2 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) in days.'

• The maximum days under water over 5 years of Vertex Pharmaceuticals is 521 days, which is larger, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (488 days) in the same period.
• Compared with SPY (199 days) in the period of the last 3 years, the maximum days below previous high of 112 days is lower, 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.'

• Looking at the average days below previous high of 130 days in the last 5 years of Vertex Pharmaceuticals, we see it is relatively larger, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (118 days)
• Looking at average days under water in of 27 days in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively lower, thus better in comparison to SPY (45 days).