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.'

• Looking at the total return of 96.2% in the last 5 years of Willis Towers Watson, we see it is relatively greater, thus better in comparison to the benchmark SPY (94.2%)
• Compared with SPY (27.9%) in the period of the last 3 years, the total return, or increase in value of 59.1% is larger, 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 14.4% in the last 5 years of Willis Towers Watson, we see it is relatively larger, thus better in comparison to the benchmark SPY (14.2%)
• During the last 3 years, the annual performance (CAGR) is 16.7%, which is greater, thus better than the value of 8.6% 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.'

• Looking at the 30 days standard deviation of 25.5% in the last 5 years of Willis Towers Watson, we see it is relatively higher, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (20.9%)
• During the last 3 years, the historical 30 days volatility is 29.7%, which is higher, thus worse than the value of 17.3% from the benchmark.

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.'

• Looking at the downside volatility of 17.8% in the last 5 years of Willis Towers Watson, we see it is relatively greater, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (15%)
• Looking at downside deviation in of 20.7% in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively higher, thus worse in comparison to SPY (12.1%).

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 risk / return profile (Sharpe) over 5 years of Willis Towers Watson is 0.47, which is lower, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (0.56) in the same period.
• During the last 3 years, the Sharpe Ratio is 0.48, which is larger, thus better than the value of 0.35 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 (0.78) in the period of the last 5 years, the ratio of annual return and downside deviation of 0.67 of Willis Towers Watson is lower, thus worse.
• Looking at excess return divided by the downside deviation in of 0.68 in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively higher, thus better in comparison to SPY (0.5).

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.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (9.32 ) in the period of the last 5 years, the Ulcer Index of 7.99 of Willis Towers Watson is smaller, thus better.
• During the last 3 years, the Ulcer Index is 9.23 , which is smaller, thus better than the value of 10 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.'

• Looking at the maximum DrawDown of -32.9 days in the last 5 years of Willis Towers Watson, we see it is relatively larger, thus better in comparison to the benchmark SPY (-33.7 days)
• Looking at maximum reduction from previous high in of -32.9 days in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively smaller, thus worse in comparison to SPY (-24.5 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'

• The maximum time in days below previous high water mark over 5 years of Willis Towers Watson is 252 days, which is lower, thus better compared to the benchmark SPY (488 days) in the same period.
• Compared with SPY (488 days) in the period of the last 3 years, the maximum time in days below previous high water mark of 252 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.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (123 days) in the period of the last 5 years, the average days under water of 60 days of Willis Towers Watson is smaller, thus better.
• Compared with SPY (180 days) in the period of the last 3 years, the average time in days below previous high water mark of 77 days is smaller, thus better.