Performance Summary Glossary
The Performance summary tab combines return, risk, benchmark, and attribution measures. This guide explains the terms in plain English so the summary notes are easier to read.
Performance Insights
What shaped performance highlights up to three material observations for the selected period. The observations are prioritized from the portfolio's return, benchmark result, external cash flows, position attribution, concentration, allocation, activity, and income data. Immaterial observations are omitted rather than filled with generic commentary.
The Performance Overview and the client PDF report use the same deterministic insight model. For the same portfolio, reporting period, and available source data, their facts and narrative wording remain aligned.
Advisers can adjust the PDF checkup trigger levels under User menu > Advanced > PDF checkup thresholds. These settings control when relative performance, material cash flows, holding concentration, sector concentration, and cash allocation are elevated for review; they do not change the underlying portfolio calculations.
Return Measures
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| Portfolio return | The portfolio's compounded return over the selected period. |
| Benchmark return | The configured portfolio benchmark's compounded return over the same period. It defaults to the S&P 500 represented by SPY; a folder uses that default unless every selected portfolio shares the same benchmark symbol. |
| Relative return | Portfolio return minus benchmark return. Positive means the portfolio outperformed the benchmark. |
| Annualized return | The selected-period return converted to an annual pace. This is most useful when comparing periods of different lengths. |
| Positive months | The count of months where the portfolio return was above zero. |
| Upside capture | Portfolio return during benchmark-positive months divided by the benchmark return for those months. Values above 100% indicate greater participation in rising benchmark months. |
| Downside capture | Portfolio return during benchmark-negative months divided by the benchmark return for those months. Values below 100% indicate a smaller decline than the benchmark during falling months. |
| Trailing return | Return ending on the report date for a standard lookback period. Three- and five-year results are annualized; shorter periods are cumulative. |
Risk Measures
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| Portfolio volatility | Annualized variability of monthly portfolio returns. Higher volatility means returns moved around more. This measure is shown after at least six months of returns are available. |
| Benchmark volatility | Annualized variability of monthly benchmark returns over comparable months. This measure is shown after at least six comparable months are available. |
| Tracking error | Annualized variability of the portfolio's monthly return difference versus the benchmark. A lower figure means returns stayed closer to the benchmark; it does not by itself indicate better performance. |
| Downside deviation | Annualized variability of negative monthly portfolio returns, with nonnegative months counted as zero. It focuses on harmful return variation rather than all variation. |
| Sharpe ratio | Return earned above the risk-free rate, adjusted for volatility. It is shown only after at least 12 months of returns are available and a risk-free rate can be loaded. Higher is generally better, but it depends on the time period and data quality. |
| Risk-free rate | The annual rate used as the low-risk baseline for Sharpe ratio. Rover Portfolio estimates it from TBIL using its latest monthly dividend, latest price, and expense ratio. |
| Maximum drawdown | The largest peak-to-trough decline in portfolio value during the selected period. |
| Drawdown recovery | Whether the portfolio recovered from its largest decline by the end of the selected period. |
Performance Drivers
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| Top contributors | Holdings with the largest positive investment gains over the available holdings snapshots. |
| Top detractors | Holdings with the largest negative investment gains over the available holdings snapshots. |
| Contribution percentage | A holding's investment gain or loss divided by the beginning invested value used for the attribution period. |
| Data checks | Notes about missing holdings, zero beginning value, or other limits that affect attribution and summary interpretation. |
Positioning and Income
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| Active sector weight | Portfolio sector weight minus benchmark sector weight. Positive is an overweight; negative is an underweight. Cash and unclassified weight remain visible rather than being reassigned. |
| Scheduled income | A payment using the feed-provided payment date. |
| Estimated income | A future payment inferred by repeating the security's most recent annual payment pattern. It is kept visually distinct from feed-declared payments. |
| Trailing annual income | Current shares multiplied by dividend payments recorded over the preceding 12 months. |
| Projected annual income | Current holding value multiplied by the security profile's current dividend yield. |
Reading Tips
- Use relative return to see whether the portfolio beat the benchmark.
- Read volatility and tracking error together: volatility describes the portfolio's overall return variation, while tracking error describes how closely it moved with the benchmark.
- Use the Sharpe ratio as supporting context, not as a standalone verdict on performance.
- The application withholds the risk panel's annualized variability measures until six months are available and withholds Sharpe ratio until 12 months are available.