If your portfolios contain more than a few securities, you can upload them to Revolution rather than adding them manually. The application offers numerous upload choices. For example, if you just upload the holdings, the application will calculate their performance. If you've created your own security classifications, custom securities, or custom benchmarks, you can upload those as well. Once all the data is in the system, you can click on the Analysis tab to analyze the portfolio.
By default, the Analysis tab takes you to the Analysis Dashboard. It provides a summary of the details contained in the subsections of this module: Performance, Attribution, Asset Allocation and Risk. My default choice of portfolio to be displayed on the dashboard was the sample U.S. equities portfolio. It was benchmarked on a chart against the StatPro US 500.
The portfolio, benchmark and performance period can be easily changed using the dropdown menus at the top of the chart. To the right of the performance chart is the percentage value at risk indicator. Values range from 0 to 20, with values up to 4 falling in the green (safe) zone. Below the performance chart is a list of the top ten securities in the portfolio, their contribution to return, and the percentage value at risk for each. Also included: top three and bottom three sectors by weight and the contribution to return by sector. These last two can be adjusted by selecting another choice from the dropdown menu. For example, to display an analysis of a sub-asset class instead of sector, you'd simply select that option from the menu.
Much but not all of the data on the dashboard is linked to its respective subsection. If you click on the performance chart, you are transported to the performance subsection. This area is further divided into four tabbed areas. The first, Performance Overview, contains a larger version of the interactive performance chart, as well as two other charts that can be customized with the dropdown menus.
One displays contribution (at the security or segment level) or total return (at the security or segment level). The other can display various tables of statistics that the user can choose from. Other tabs allow you to drill down into portfolio details, create various charts related to the portfolio, and generate performance statistics (regression analysis, tracking indicators, etc.). Overall, the Performance section offers an impressive array of tools and statistics in an easy-to-digest format.
The Attribution tab allows you to view equity attribution and contribution to return statistics. The asset allocation section produces nice-looking graphs and charts for both absolute weightings and relative weightings.
The presentation area contains a set of report templates. These templates produce well-designed, graphically pleasing reports. These reports contain bar charts, doughnut graphs, tables and other elements. Currently, there are about ten templates to choose from. They include absolute return, absolute contribution, absolute performance, asset allocation, equity attribution, equity overview, fixed income, performance and value at risk. With the exception of the two performance reports, all the reports are generated in the landscape mode.
The Research section is currently limited to an equity market heat map by geographical area. You can see which markets are up or down over various time periods. I have been told that StatPro expects to enhance this section of the application over time.
The support section contains a number of articles on setting up the system and dealing with common issues. You can also access a StatPro Revolution Official Forum to receive support from StatPro staff, a user community forum, and a glossary. In addition, you can submit support requests here electronically and track the responses.
Initial Impressions
Given the fact that StatPro is new to the RIA marketplace, Revolution is an impressive initial effort. The application is easy to navigate and the tool set is impressive. In addition, it is multi-currency capable. If you load a set of portfolio holdings into StatPro Revolution, you can be performing meaningful analysis almost immediately.