# Ceva (CEVA.US)

Canonical: https://gigainvestors.com/s/CEVA

Analysis as of: 2026-10-16T07:27:21.636Z. Financial observations: FY1998–FY2026.

Listing currency: USD. Reporting currency: USD.

## Verdict

Not a wonderful business

Quality tests for Buy: not passed (profit record: fail; earnings resilience is evidence only). Published buy qualification: no.

Share price: $29.25 per share; close as of 2026-10-15.

## Checklist

### understandable: fail

- 2 revenue declines in the last 10 years (informational)

- more than 2 net loss years

- negative average operating margin

- operating margin variation exceeds 0.35

- Financial history: 10 years

- Years with declining revenue: 2

- Years with a net loss: 6

- Operating margin variation: 5.32×

Chart: Operating margin; fiscal year observations.

- FY2017: 0.18×

- FY2018: -0.02×

- FY2019: -0.02×

- FY2020: -0.01×

- FY2021: 0.06×

- FY2022: 0.03×

- FY2023: -0.14×

- FY2024: -0.07×

- FY2025: -0.10×

- LTM to Jun 2026: -0.08×

### moat: fail

- ROIC median below threshold

- ROIC worst years below threshold (more than 1 bad year allowed)

- ROIC, median of available years: -1.7%

- ROIC, second-lowest year: -11.9%

- Typical minus recent gross margin: 0.9 pp

- Typical gross margin (annual median): 88.2%

- Recent gross margin (lower of latest and 3-year median): 87.4%

- Years with nonpositive capital: 0

- Capital spending / revenue: 2.9%

- ROIC including acquisitions, ten-year median: -2.2%

Chart: ROIC excluding acquisitions; fiscal year observations.

- FY2017: 24.1%

- FY2018: -1.5%

- FY2019: -1.9%

- FY2020: -0.6%

- FY2021: 8.2%

- FY2022: 3.5%

- FY2023: -23.2%

- FY2024: -11.9%

- FY2025: -10.3%

- LTM to Jun 2026: -9.0%

### economics: fail

- owner earnings cash conversion below threshold

- incremental invested capital return below threshold

- working capital as a share of revenue rose more than 10pp and ends positive

- Cash conversion uses consolidated totals: No

- Owner earnings, five-year total: -$41M

- Net income, five-year total: -$54M

- Return on incremental invested capital: -41.2%

- Working capital / revenue, annual change: 1.6 pp

- Working capital / revenue, change between three-year averages: 11.8 pp

- Working capital / revenue, final three-year average: 35.5%

Chart: Owner earnings · five years; fiscal year observations.

- FY2021: $5.2M

- FY2022: -$19M

- FY2023: -$9.9M

- FY2024: -$7.6M

- FY2025: -$9.5M

### management: fail

- Historical market-dollar context (not the management verdict): 2016 to 2025 (9 years)

- potential debt-funded buybacks (informational)

- buybacks leaned toward cheaper years (informational)

- ROIC first 3 years vs last 3 years: 24.1% vs -11.9%

- Per-share earnings: 0.61 to -0.44 (three-year endpoint medians)

- per-share value declined or ends nonpositive

- five-year and ten-year diluted share growth both above threshold

- acquired goodwill and intangibles (proxy) exceeds half of ten-year net income with low and deteriorating ROIC

- Management verdict uses per-share economic progress: Yes

- Ordinary dilution, 10-year annual growth: 1.5%

- Ordinary dilution, 5-year annual growth: 1.9%

- Market cap gain: -$122M

- Cumulative retained earnings: -$39M

- Diluted shares, 10-year annual growth: 1.5%

- Diluted shares, 5-year annual growth: 1.9%

- $1 test, starting fiscal year: FY2016

- $1 test, ending fiscal year: FY2025

- Per-share value change: -$1.05

- Per-share value, starting three-year median: $0.61

- Per-share value, ending three-year median: -$0.44

- Buybacks concentrated in cheaper years (correlation): 0.02

- Average buyback yield: 1.4%

- Buyback history: 8 years

- Debt-funded buybacks: Yes

- Acquisition spending: $46M

- Cumulative net income, 10 years: -$26M

- ROIC, first three-year median: 24.1%

- ROIC, last three-year median: -11.9%

Chart: Earnings per share; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: $0.61

- FY2017: $0.75

- FY2018: $0.03

- FY2019: $0.00

- FY2020: -$0.11

- FY2021: $0.02

- FY2022: -$1.00

- FY2023: -$0.51

- FY2024: -$0.37

- FY2025: -$0.44

### accounting: pass

- stock compensation exceeds 15% of operating cash flow

- Sloan accruals: -3.6%

- Receivables to sales index (DSRI): 1.29×

- Restructuring years, last five: 1

- Stock compensation / operating cash flow: 448.7%

- Earnings backed by cash: Yes

- Accounting red flags: 1

- Goodwill and intangibles / equity: 0.18×

Chart: Sloan accruals; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: -0.6%

- FY2017: -2.7%

- FY2018: -2.9%

- FY2019: -3.2%

- FY2020: -5.7%

- FY2021: -7.7%

- FY2022: -9.8%

- FY2023: -1.8%

- FY2024: -4.0%

- FY2025: -3.6%

## Holders

- [Matthew McLennan](https://gigainvestors.com/FE): tracked 13F investor; follow the investor page for holding quarter and amounts.

## Price story

Down 38% since Jun 2026 · sales +5.6%

Story as of 2026-10-16T09:58:29.474Z; price observation 2026-10-15.

- 2026-02-27: CEVA (CEVA) Posts Record Q4 Revenue on Strong Licensing and Wi-Fi Growth ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ceva-ceva-posts-record-q4-054349773.html))

### Sales · FY2025–2026

sales +5.6%; source https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1173489/000143774926006091/ceva20251231_10k.htm; observed 2026-02-27.

- FY2017: $88M 

- FY2018: $78M 

- FY2019: $87M 

- FY2020: $100M 

- FY2021: $114M 

- FY2022: $121M 

- FY2023: $97M 

- FY2024: $107M 

- FY2025: $110M 

- FY2026: $116M 

### Gross margin · FY2026

gross margin 87.4%; source https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1173489/000143774926006091/ceva20251231_10k.htm; observed 2026-02-27.

- FY2017: 92.1% 

- FY2018: 89.8% 

- FY2019: 88.4% 

- FY2020: 89.3% 

- FY2021: 90.9% 

- FY2022: 87.5% 

- FY2023: 88.0% 

- FY2024: 88.1% 

- FY2025: 87.1% 

- FY2026: 87.4% 

## Owner memo

Memo as of 2026-10-16T08:06:05.509Z.

### How it makes money

Operates in semiconductors; annual sales are USD 109.6 million.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1173489/000143774926006091/ceva20251231_10k.htm (filed 2026-02-27); FY2025: revenue 109598000; grossProfit 95440000; margin = grossProfit / revenue.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-15); CEVA.US: CEVA, Inc. provides silicon and software intellectual property (IP) solutions to semiconductor and original equipment manufacturer companies in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, the Asia Pacific, and internationally. The company offers PentaG-RAN, a hardware and software IP for implementing L1 PHY baseband processing in 5G and 5G-A base station and other cellular infrastructure system-on-chips (SoCs); Ceva XC20 DSPs and the PentaG2 platform support 5G/5G Advanced baseband for mobile broadband, RedCap, and IoT devices; Ceva-BX2 baseband processor; Ceva-XC21, high-efficiency vector DSP cores for 5G and 5G-advanced; Ceva-XC23, DSP for 5G and 5G-advanced; and Ceva-Waves Bluetooth platform, a set of hardware IP, software modules, and radios addressing a range of processes and nodes. It also provides Ceva-Waves Wi-Fi platform, a set of hardware IP and CPU-agnostic host software for energy-efficient SoC implementation of Wi-Fi subsystems; Ceva-Waves ultra-wideband platform; Ceva-Waves Links, which provide solutions for SoCs requiring multiple connectivity standards; and Ceva-Waves DragonFly, a turnkey platform for implementing NB-IoT cellular modem SoCs. In addition, the company offers Ceva-SensPro, a family of DSP cores; Ceva-BX1 audio digital signal controller IP; Ceva-ClearVox ENC software, a neural-network-based noise cancellation; Ceva-RealSpace, a spatial audio and head tracking software solution; and Ceva-MotionEngine, a sensor fusion software. Further, it provides Ceva-NeuPro-M, a neural processing unit (NPU) IP for generative AI; a Ceva-NeuPro-Nano, an NPU IP for embedded AI; and Ceva-NeuPro Studio, a software development environment for the development and deployment of AI models on the Ceva-NeuPro NPUs. The company was formerly known as ParthusCeva, Inc. and changed its name to CEVA, Inc. in December 2003. The company was incorporated in 1999 and is headquartered in Rockville, Maryland.

### Why customers stay

Margins ranged from 87.1% to 88.1% during 2023–25; it lost 1.7% on its capital.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-27); FY2023: grossProfit / revenue = 88%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-27); FY2024: grossProfit / revenue = 88.1%.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1173489/000143774926006091/ceva20251231_10k.htm (filed 2026-02-27); FY2025: grossProfit / revenue = 87.1%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-27); 10-year return on capital observations [[2017,0.24130346628679403],[2018,-0.015114867388868136],[2019,-0.018900374803530406],[2020,-0.005608390817595839],[2021,0.08245342174492774],[2022,0.03534206045719709],[2023,-0.2315277143043677],[2024,-0.11881889763779528],[2025,-0.10340008767274993],[2026,-0.09046593228228049]]; median -0.01700762109619927. ROIC follows the displayed moat series; financial companies use return on tangible equity.

### Where the cash goes

Paid no dividends in 10 years; bought back USD 7.2 million of shares.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-27); FY2016: growth capex 0; upkeep 2387000; owner earnings 13348000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-27); FY2017: growth capex 868393.5673275003; upkeep 3266606.4326724997; owner earnings 17011393.5673275. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.05104776183624123.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-27); FY2020: growth capex 0; upkeep 2935000; owner earnings 507000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-27); FY2021: growth capex 0; upkeep 2193000; owner earnings 5188000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-27); Dividend observations: [[2016,0],[2017,0],[2018,0],[2019,0],[2020,0],[2021,0],[2022,0],[2023,0],[2024,0],[2025,0]]. Zero only counted when supported by a complete cash-flow statement.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1173489/000143774926006091/ceva20251231_10k.htm (filed 2026-02-27); FY2025: cash repurchases 7150000 USD.

### Are managers owners

Insiders own 3.5% of the company.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-15); CEVA.US SharesStats.PercentInsiders = 3.505 percentage points; cache date 2026-10-15.

### What the price says

The price is 6.5 times annual sales; cash earnings are negative.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-27); Closing price 29.25 USD; reporting-to-trading FX 1; FY2025 annual sales per share 4.511133978184811; price multiple 6.483957280242341. FY2025 cash earnings/share -0.3892570487754682. Closing-price date 2026-10-15.

## Monthly share-price history (USD per share)

- 2016-10: $30.05 per share

- 2016-11: $31.80 per share

- 2016-12: $33.55 per share

- 2017-01: $35.35 per share

- 2017-02: $33.40 per share

- 2017-03: $35.50 per share

- 2017-04: $36.00 per share

- 2017-05: $42.25 per share

- 2017-06: $45.45 per share

- 2017-07: $46.25 per share

- 2017-08: $40.55 per share

- 2017-09: $42.80 per share

- 2017-10: $48.30 per share

- 2017-11: $47.50 per share

- 2017-12: $46.15 per share

- 2018-01: $44.00 per share

- 2018-02: $36.75 per share

- 2018-03: $36.20 per share

- 2018-04: $32.60 per share

- 2018-05: $33.70 per share

- 2018-06: $30.20 per share

- 2018-07: $30.10 per share

- 2018-08: $30.60 per share

- 2018-09: $28.75 per share

- 2018-10: $24.64 per share

- 2018-11: $25.99 per share

- 2018-12: $22.09 per share

- 2019-01: $28.44 per share

- 2019-02: $27.82 per share

- 2019-03: $26.96 per share

- 2019-04: $25.19 per share

- 2019-05: $22.83 per share

- 2019-06: $24.35 per share

- 2019-07: $27.78 per share

- 2019-08: $31.41 per share

- 2019-09: $29.86 per share

- 2019-10: $27.22 per share

- 2019-11: $25.92 per share

- 2019-12: $26.96 per share

- 2020-01: $27.35 per share

- 2020-02: $28.41 per share

- 2020-03: $24.93 per share

- 2020-04: $31.35 per share

- 2020-05: $34.47 per share

- 2020-06: $37.42 per share

- 2020-07: $40.20 per share

- 2020-08: $42.25 per share

- 2020-09: $39.37 per share

- 2020-10: $40.32 per share

- 2020-11: $39.28 per share

- 2020-12: $45.50 per share

- 2021-01: $58.79 per share

- 2021-02: $61.23 per share

- 2021-03: $56.15 per share

- 2021-04: $55.44 per share

- 2021-05: $44.87 per share

- 2021-06: $47.30 per share

- 2021-07: $49.64 per share

- 2021-08: $48.25 per share

- 2021-09: $42.67 per share

- 2021-10: $45.61 per share

- 2021-11: $44.10 per share

- 2021-12: $43.24 per share

- 2022-01: $37.67 per share

- 2022-02: $40.77 per share

- 2022-03: $40.65 per share

- 2022-04: $36.34 per share

- 2022-05: $36.07 per share

- 2022-06: $33.56 per share

- 2022-07: $37.23 per share

- 2022-08: $29.27 per share

- 2022-09: $26.23 per share

- 2022-10: $27.66 per share

- 2022-11: $27.17 per share

- 2022-12: $25.58 per share

- 2023-01: $33.12 per share

- 2023-02: $31.56 per share

- 2023-03: $30.43 per share

- 2023-04: $25.13 per share

- 2023-05: $25.02 per share

- 2023-06: $25.55 per share

- 2023-07: $27.16 per share

- 2023-08: $23.22 per share

- 2023-09: $19.39 per share

- 2023-10: $17.17 per share

- 2023-11: $21.76 per share

- 2023-12: $22.71 per share

- 2024-01: $19.20 per share

- 2024-02: $22.64 per share

- 2024-03: $22.71 per share

- 2024-04: $20.27 per share

- 2024-05: $19.92 per share

- 2024-06: $19.29 per share

- 2024-07: $20.05 per share

- 2024-08: $23.94 per share

- 2024-09: $24.15 per share

- 2024-10: $23.34 per share

- 2024-11: $29.74 per share

- 2024-12: $31.55 per share

- 2025-01: $32.21 per share

- 2025-02: $34.26 per share

- 2025-03: $25.61 per share

- 2025-04: $26.21 per share

- 2025-05: $18.76 per share

- 2025-06: $21.98 per share

- 2025-07: $21.37 per share

- 2025-08: $22.22 per share

- 2025-09: $26.41 per share

- 2025-10: $27.21 per share

- 2025-11: $21.59 per share

- 2025-12: $21.52 per share

- 2026-01: $21.09 per share

- 2026-02: $20.86 per share

- 2026-03: $18.68 per share

- 2026-04: $30.54 per share

- 2026-05: $39.98 per share

- 2026-06: $47.16 per share

- 2026-07: $32.65 per share

- 2026-08: $27.05 per share

- 2026-09: $35.33 per share

- 2026-10: $29.25 per share

## Annual estimated value (USD per share)

- FY2016: low $11.41 per share, central $13.20 per share, high $14.46 per share

- FY2017: low $12.84 per share, central $15.45 per share, high $17.07 per share

- FY2018: low $10.63 per share, central $11.37 per share, high $12.18 per share

- FY2019: low $11.02 per share, central $11.65 per share, high $12.50 per share

- FY2020: low $6.05 per share, central $6.08 per share, high $6.13 per share

- FY2021: low $6.83 per share, central $6.87 per share, high $6.92 per share

Historical values use today's bond yield for every fiscal year

Historical values use today's FX rate into trading currency for every fiscal year

Historical values use current restated fundamentals and current commodity classification; they are not point-in-time estimates

## Sources

[Original 10-K filing](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1173489/000143774926006091/ceva20251231_10k.htm); period 2025-12-31, filed 2026-02-27.

Estimates depend on assumptions and are not guarantees or investment advice. Underlying data remains subject to its source licenses; public reading does not grant bulk redistribution rights.