US sectors low volatility

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 (94.2%) in the period of the last 5 years, the total return of 40.5% of US sectors low volatility is lower, thus worse.
• During the last 3 years, the total return, or increase in value is 7.8%, which is smaller, thus worse than the value of 34.4% from the benchmark.

CAGR:

'The compound annual growth rate isn't a true return rate, but rather a representational figure. It is essentially a number that describes the rate at which an investment would have grown if it had grown the same rate every year and the profits were reinvested at the end of each year. In reality, this sort of performance is unlikely. However, CAGR can be used to smooth returns so that they may be more easily understood when compared to alternative investments.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (14.2%) in the period of the last 5 years, the compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.1% of US sectors low volatility is smaller, thus worse.
• During the last 3 years, the annual performance (CAGR) is 2.5%, which is lower, thus worse than the value of 10.4% from the benchmark.

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.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (21%) in the period of the last 5 years, the 30 days standard deviation of 17.6% of US sectors low volatility is lower, thus better.
• Compared with SPY (17.5%) in the period of the last 3 years, the historical 30 days volatility of 14.5% is lower, thus better.

DownVol:

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

• Looking at the downside deviation of 12.6% in the last 5 years of US sectors low volatility, we see it is relatively lower, thus better in comparison to the benchmark SPY (15%)
• Looking at downside deviation in of 10.8% in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively lower, thus better in comparison to SPY (12.3%).

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.'

• Looking at the ratio of return and volatility (Sharpe) of 0.26 in the last 5 years of US sectors low volatility, we see it is relatively lower, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (0.56)
• Looking at ratio of return and volatility (Sharpe) in of 0 in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively lower, thus worse in comparison to SPY (0.45).

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 US sectors low volatility is 0.36, which is lower, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (0.78) in the same period.
• Compared with SPY (0.64) in the period of the last 3 years, the excess return divided by the downside deviation of 0 is smaller, thus worse.

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 Ratio over 5 years of US sectors low volatility is 7.34 , which is lower, thus better compared to the benchmark SPY (9.33 ) in the same period.
• During the last 3 years, the Downside risk index is 8.14 , which is lower, thus better than the value of 8.87 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.'

• The maximum DrawDown over 5 years of US sectors low volatility is -26.1 days, which is higher, thus better compared to the benchmark SPY (-33.7 days) in the same period.
• During the last 3 years, the maximum DrawDown is -19.6 days, which is larger, thus better than the value of -22.4 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 days below previous high of 462 days in the last 5 years of US sectors low volatility, we see it is relatively lower, thus better in comparison to the benchmark SPY (488 days)
• Compared with SPY (375 days) in the period of the last 3 years, the maximum days under water of 462 days is larger, thus worse.

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 US sectors low volatility is 112 days, which is lower, thus better compared to the benchmark SPY (122 days) in the same period.
• Compared with SPY (113 days) in the period of the last 3 years, the average time in days below previous high water mark of 159 days is larger, thus worse.