How Does CVD Equipment Corporation (NASDAQ:CVV) Affect Your Portfolio Volatility?

In this article:

If you're interested in CVD Equipment Corporation (NASDAQ:CVV), then you might want to consider its beta (a measure of share price volatility) in order to understand how the stock could impact your portfolio. Modern finance theory considers volatility to be a measure of risk, and there are two main types of price volatility. First, we have company specific volatility, which is the price gyrations of an individual stock. Holding at least 8 stocks can reduce this kind of risk across a portfolio. The second type is the broader market volatility, which you cannot diversify away, since it arises from macroeconomic factors which directly affects all the stocks on the market.

Some stocks see their prices move in concert with the market. Others tend towards stronger, gentler or unrelated price movements. Beta can be a useful tool to understand how much a stock is influenced by market risk (volatility). However, Warren Buffett said 'volatility is far from synonymous with risk' in his 2014 letter to investors. So, while useful, beta is not the only metric to consider. To use beta as an investor, you must first understand that the overall market has a beta of one. Any stock with a beta of greater than one is considered more volatile than the market, while those with a beta below one are either less volatile or poorly correlated with the market.

Want to participate in a short research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card!

See our latest analysis for CVD Equipment

What we can learn from CVV's beta value

Given that it has a beta of 1.2, we can surmise that the CVD Equipment share price has been fairly sensitive to market volatility (over the last 5 years). Based on this history, investors should be aware that CVD Equipment are likely to rise strongly in times of greed, but sell off in times of fear. Share price volatility is well worth considering, but most long term investors consider the history of revenue and earnings growth to be more important. Take a look at how CVD Equipment fares in that regard, below.

NasdaqCM:CVV Income Statement, May 24th 2019
NasdaqCM:CVV Income Statement, May 24th 2019

Does CVV's size influence the expected beta?

CVD Equipment is a noticeably small company, with a market capitalisation of US$24m. Most companies this size are not always actively traded. Relatively few investors can influence the price of a smaller company, compared to a large company. This could explain the high beta value, in this case.

What this means for you:

Since CVD Equipment has a reasonably high beta, it's worth considering why it is so heavily influenced by broader market sentiment. For example, it might be a high growth stock or have a lot of operating leverage in its business model. In order to fully understand whether CVV is a good investment for you, we also need to consider important company-specific fundamentals such as CVD Equipment’s financial health and performance track record. I highly recommend you dive deeper by considering the following:

  1. Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for CVV’s future growth? Take a look at our free research report of analyst consensus for CVV’s outlook.

  2. Past Track Record: Has CVV been consistently performing well irrespective of the ups and downs in the market? Go into more detail in the past performance analysis and take a look at the free visual representations of CVV's historicals for more clarity.

  3. Other Interesting Stocks: It's worth checking to see how CVV measures up against other companies on valuation. You could start with this free list of prospective options.

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.

Advertisement