Introducing Intevac (NASDAQ:IVAC), The Stock That Dropped 43% In The Last Five Years

Ideally, your overall portfolio should beat the market average. But every investor is virtually certain to have both over-performing and under-performing stocks. At this point some shareholders may be questioning their investment in Intevac, Inc. (NASDAQ:IVAC), since the last five years saw the share price fall 43%. We also note that the stock has performed poorly over the last year, with the share price down 21%. On top of that, the share price is down 18% in the last week.

View our latest analysis for Intevac

In his essay The Superinvestors of Graham-and-Doddsville Warren Buffett described how share prices do not always rationally reflect the value of a business. One imperfect but simple way to consider how the market perception of a company has shifted is to compare the change in the earnings per share (EPS) with the share price movement.

Intevac became profitable within the last five years. That would generally be considered a positive, so we are surprised to see the share price is down. Other metrics might give us a better handle on how its value is changing over time.

In contrast to the share price, revenue has actually increased by 9.8% a year in the five year period. So it seems one might have to take closer look at the fundamentals to understand why the share price languishes. After all, there may be an opportunity.

You can see how revenue and earnings have changed over time in the image below, (click on the chart to see cashflow).

We know that Intevac has improved its bottom line over the last three years, but what does the future have in store? You can see how its balance sheet has strengthened (or weakened) over time in this freeinteractive graphic.

A Different Perspective

Investors in Intevac had a tough year, with a total loss of 21%, against a market gain of about 8.6%. However, keep in mind that even the best stocks will sometimes underperform the market over a twelve month period. Unfortunately, last year's performance may indicate unresolved challenges, given that it was worse than the annualised loss of 11% over the last half decade. We realise that Buffett has said investors should 'buy when there is blood on the streets', but we caution that investors should first be sure they are buying a high quality businesses. Before spending more time on Intevac it might be wise to click here to see if insiders have been buying or selling shares.

But note: Intevac may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this freelist of interesting companies with past earnings growth (and further growth forecast).

We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.

If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.