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Here's How Much You'd Have If You Invested $1000 in MKS Instruments a Decade Ago

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For most investors, how much a stock's price changes over time is important. This factor can impact your investment portfolio as well as help you compare investment results across sectors and industries.

The fear of missing out, or FOMO, also plays a factor in investing, especially with particular tech giants, as well as popular consumer-facing stocks.

What if you'd invested in MKS Instruments (MKSI - Free Report) ten years ago? It may not have been easy to hold on to MKSI for all that time, but if you did, how much would your investment be worth today?

MKS Instruments' Business In-Depth

With that in mind, let's take a look at MKS Instruments' main business drivers.

MKS Instruments, Inc. is a global provider of instruments, subsystems and process control solutions that measure, monitor, deliver, analyze, power and control critical parameters of advanced manufacturing processes.

MKS solutions are used in pressure measurement and control, flow measurement and control, gas and vapor delivery, gas composition analysis, residual gas analysis, leak detection, control technology, ozone generation and delivery, RF & DC power, reactive gas generation, vacuum technology, lasers, photonics, sub-micron positioning, vibration control, and optics.

Total revenues in 2020 were $2.3 billion. The Massachusetts-based company has six product groups: Analytical and Controls Solutions; Power, Plasma and Reactive Gas Solutions; Vacuum Solutions; Photonics; Optics; and Laser Products.

Since the acquisition of Electro Scientific Industries (ESI) in February 2019, MKS Instruments has been reporting results via three business segments as discussed below:

The Vacuum and Analysis segment (60.8% of 2020 revenues) provides a wide range of components, instruments, software and subsystems. The Analytical and Controls Solutions, the Power, Plasma and Reactive Gas Solutions and the Vacuum Solutions are included under this segment.

The Light and Motion (30% of 2020 revenues) offers several components, instruments and subsystems. The Photonics, Optics and Laser product groups are included under this segment.

Equipment & Solutions segment (9.2% of 2020 revenues) includes a portfolio of industrial laser-based component and micromanufacturing test systems used for processing materials.

Markedly, MKS Instruments was awarded 170 new patents in 2020. The company grew new product releases by 48% year-over-year and secured a number of important design wins for both semiconductor and advanced markets.

Bottom Line

Anyone can invest, but building a successful investment portfolio requires research, patience, and a little bit of risk. So, if you had invested in MKS Instruments ten years ago, you're likely feeling pretty good about your investment today.

According to our calculations, a $1000 investment made in May 2011 would be worth $7,335.54, or a gain of 633.55%, as of May 31, 2021, and this return excludes dividends but includes price increases.

In comparison, the S&P 500 gained 215.84% and the price of gold went up 19.21% over the same time frame.

Analysts are forecasting more upside for MKSI too.

MKS Instruments’ first-quarter 2021 results benefited from solid growth in the semiconductor market and recovery in advanced market revenues. Moreover, continuing strong demand for the company’s plasma and reactive gas solutions, especially in semiconductor deposition applications, is a key catalyst. Gradual reopening of universities and research labs is benefiting advanced-market segment revenues. MKS Instruments is also benefiting from a lean cost structure. The ESI acquisition has strengthened the company’s offerings in optics, photonics and laser markets, apart from saving costs. Moreover, the latest HDI PCB laser-manufacturing solution has been gaining traction in Asia. However, exposure of the company’s Light and Motion segment in China is a concern. Notably, shares have underperformed the industry year to date.

The stock has jumped 5.09% over the past four weeks. Additionally, no earnings estimate has gone lower in the past two months, compared to 3 higher, for fiscal 2021; the consensus estimate has moved up as well.

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