Willis Towers Watson (WLTW)

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.'

• The total return, or performance over 5 years of Willis Towers Watson is 77.8%, which is larger, thus better compared to the benchmark SPY (77.1%) in the same period.
• Compared with SPY (51.7%) in the period of the last 3 years, the total return, or increase in value of 70.7% 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.'

• The annual return (CAGR) over 5 years of Willis Towers Watson is 12.2%, which is higher, thus better compared to the benchmark SPY (12.1%) in the same period.
• Compared with SPY (14.9%) in the period of the last 3 years, the annual performance (CAGR) of 19.5% is larger, thus better.

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 historical 30 days volatility over 5 years of Willis Towers Watson is 18.8%, which is larger, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (13.3%) in the same period.
• Compared with SPY (13%) in the period of the last 3 years, the 30 days standard deviation of 18.3% is larger, thus worse.

DownVol:

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

• The downside deviation over 5 years of Willis Towers Watson is 13.7%, which is larger, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (9.6%) in the same period.
• Compared with SPY (9.4%) in the period of the last 3 years, the downside volatility of 13.1% 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.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (0.72) in the period of the last 5 years, the Sharpe Ratio of 0.52 of Willis Towers Watson is smaller, thus worse.
• During the last 3 years, the risk / return profile (Sharpe) is 0.93, which is smaller, thus worse than the value of 0.96 from the benchmark.

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.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (1) in the period of the last 5 years, the ratio of annual return and downside deviation of 0.71 of Willis Towers Watson is smaller, thus worse.
• During the last 3 years, the ratio of annual return and downside deviation is 1.3, which is lower, thus worse than the value of 1.32 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.'

• The Ulcer Index over 5 years of Willis Towers Watson is 6.32 , which is larger, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (3.97 ) in the same period.
• Compared with SPY (4.1 ) in the period of the last 3 years, the Downside risk index of 4.97 is larger, thus worse.

MaxDD:

'A maximum drawdown is the maximum loss from a peak to a trough of a portfolio, before a new peak is attained. Maximum Drawdown is an indicator of downside risk over a specified time period. It can be used both as a stand-alone measure or as an input into other metrics such as 'Return over Maximum Drawdown' and the Calmar Ratio. Maximum Drawdown is expressed in percentage terms.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (-19.3 days) in the period of the last 5 years, the maximum DrawDown of -18.2 days of Willis Towers Watson is larger, thus better.
• Looking at maximum reduction from previous high in of -16.9 days in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively higher, thus better in comparison to SPY (-19.3 days).

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'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (187 days) in the period of the last 5 years, the maximum days under water of 369 days of Willis Towers Watson is greater, thus worse.
• Compared with SPY (139 days) in the period of the last 3 years, the maximum days below previous high of 129 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.'

• The average days below previous high over 5 years of Willis Towers Watson is 87 days, which is larger, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (42 days) in the same period.
• Looking at average time in days below previous high water mark in of 34 days in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively smaller, thus better in comparison to SPY (37 days).