First Eagle Investment (Trades, Portfolio) Management, LLC has added to its portfolio position in Intevac, Inc. (IVAC, Financial). On July 29, the firm bought 971,395 shares of the industrial company bringing its total portfolio share position in the stock to 0.05% or 4,676,581 shares. Following the stock buy First Eagle Investment (Trades, Portfolio)’s equity assets under management increased to a total of $41.98 billion. Former portfolio manager Jean-Marie Eveillard has received numerous awards as an investment manager and is known for his value focused investment style.
Intevac is an industrial sector company with a current trading price of $4.87. The company operates in a niche market segment of the industrial sector with revenue primarily generated from thin-film equipment and photonics manufacturing. In the first quarter of 2015 Thin-Film Equipment generated $10.6 million in revenue while the firm’s Photonics business segment generated $9.3 million. Both segments had double-digit revenue growth from the comparable quarter with Thin-Film Equipment revenue growing 17% and Photonics revenue growing 16%.
The firm is scheduled to report second quarter 2015 earnings results on August 3. Expense management will be a key factor for the firm. While revenue has shown strong growth, expenses from research and development and selling, general and administrative costs led to a total operating loss of $2.94 million in the first quarter of 2015.
Management’s guidance for the full year will also be a key point for investors. In July the firm announced two significant contract orders affecting earnings results for the second half of 2015. Intevac received a $13 million production contract from the U.S. Army for photonics products. Additionally in the firm’s Thin-Film Equipment segment Intevac received an order for the firm’s trademarked VERTEX Physical Vapor Deposition system. Both orders will be accounted for within the second half of 2015.
First Eagle has been an active investor in Intevac for over five years. The First Eagle portfolio is also highly allocated to the industrial sector overall. At 16.49% of the portfolio the industrial sector holds the second largest weighting after technology at 17.08%. In the industrial sector First Eagle’s largest industrial equity holding is in 3M Company (MMM, Financial) at 2.36%. This is followed by Northrop Grumman Corporation (NOC, Financial) at 2.24% and Cintas Corporation (CTAS, Financial) at 1.76%.
