Owner Scorecard
An independent research publication · records as of August 17, 2026

← All companies ← KOP Manual KOS → ← KLIC Semiconductors LAES →

KOPN, Kopin Corporation

Semiconductors asset-light

A semiconductor business, riding a brutal capacity cycle on the edge of Moore's Law.

Corporate Background and Market Presence As used herein, the terms "Company," "we," "us," or "our" refer to Kopin Corporation, a Delaware corporation.

The display is a bi-directional, human-in-the-loop and artificial intelligence enabled backplane that can be manufactured into microdisplays using either OLED or MicroLED deposition technology.

Latest annual: FY2025 10-K
KOPN · Kopin Corporation
I

The business

What it sells, where the money comes from, the kind of company it is.

Revenue · FY2025
$39M
−21.9% YoY · −0% 5-yr CAGR
Vital signs · TTM, with 5-yr average
Revenue $44M 5-yr avg $45M
Gross margin 51%
Operating margin −22.9% 5-yr avg −45.9%
ROIC −23% 5-yr avg −131%
Owner-earnings margin −32% 5-yr avg −35%
Free cash flow margin −42% 5-yr avg −36%

Next report By 11/10 · the 10-Q for the quarter ended late September · due within 45 days of period end · has filed ~45 days after · the wire records it on arrival

The business in brief

read the 10-K →

What this business is and what moves its needle, from its own SEC filings.

What moves the needle
Operating margin has run around −66% through the cycle on a 35% gross margin, the operating line deeply negative — so the lever is the path to a margin at all: revenue growth against the cost curve and the cash runway, not the level of a margin that isn't there yet. Inventory runs near 14% of sales, so how fast it turns back into cash — and the risk of writing it down when demand softens — sits alongside the margin. Read this kind of business on process leadership and the capex cycle. On its own account, the filing leans hardest on pricing power & competition, set against the numbers in what the filing emphasizes, below.
Is it a good business?
Return on capital has rarely cleared the cost of capital (median −70%, above 15% in 0 of 10 years). Owner earnings, the cash-based check, have been thin too. This is price-taker territory, where the balance sheet and the cycle matter more than any multiple; the rest is in the 10-K.

Every line is arithmetic on the company's filings, shown in full in the sections below.

II

The record

Ten years of arithmetic, read across the cycle.

The record, 2016–2025

realized figures from each filing · older years to the left
2016’162017’172018’182019’192020’202021’212022’222023’232024’242025’25TTMTTMJun 2026
Income statement
$23M$28M$24M$30M$40M$46M$47M$40M$50M$39M$44MRevenueRevenue
$5M$10M$9M$9M$19M—————$22MGross profitGross prof.
21%35%35%29%47%—————51%Gross marginGross mgn
75%74%111%72%29%40%38%54%45%41%41%SG&A / revenueSG&A/rev
67%56%51%31%10%14%18%9%12%17%14%R&D / revenueR&D/rev
($20M)($30M)($40M)($26M)($5M)($14M)($22M)($17M)($43M)($10M)($10M)Operating incomeOp. inc.
−90.4%−108.8%−163.4%−89.4%−11.9%−30.2%−46.0%−42.5%−85.6%−25.1%−22.9%Operating marginOp. mgn
($20M)($28M)($34M)($29M)($4M)($13M)($19M)($20M)($44M)$3M—Pretax incomePretax
($24M)($25M)($35M)($30M)($4M)($13M)($19M)($20M)($44M)$3M$8MNet incomeNet inc.
Cash flow & returns
($26M)($26M)($28M)($21M)($4M)($11M)($18M)($15M)($14M)($16M)($13M)Operating cash flowOp. cash
$1M$900K$1M$800K$651K$669K$722K$608K$637K$830K$816KDepreciation & amortizationD&A
($6M)($4M)$639K$6M($1M)($2M)($351K)$4K$26M($22M)($25M)Working capital & otherWC & other
$395K$3M$1M$170K$543K$1M$833K$949K$815K$1M$5MCapexCapex
1.7%10.0%4.8%0.6%1.4%2.3%1.8%2.4%1.6%3.7%12.2%Capex / revenueCapex/rev
($27M)($27M)($29M)($21M)($5M)($11M)($19M)($16M)($15M)($16M)($14M)Owner earningsOwner earn.
−117.3%−96.3%−119.7%−71.8%−12.4%−25.0%−39.1%−39.3%−29.5%−41.6%−31.9%Owner earnings marginOE mgn
($27M)($29M)($29M)($21M)($5M)($12M)($19M)($16M)($15M)($17M)($18M)Free cash flowFCF
−117.3%−103.1%−119.7%−71.8%−12.4%−25.8%−39.1%−40.1%−29.9%−43.2%−42.2%Free cash flow marginFCF mgn
$0$792K————————$792KDividends paidDiv. paid
$23M$11M$19M$5M$12M$54K($3M)($8M)($10M)$18M—Investing cash flowInv. cash
($511K)$23M($907K)$8M$4M$20M$3M$21M$34M$44M—Financing cash flowFin. cash
($93K)$561K($268K)($6K)$13K($80K)($191K)$14K($952)$4K—Exchange-rate effectFX
($4M)$9M($11M)($8M)$11M$10M($19M)($2M)$9M$46M—Change in cashΔ cash
-28%-46%-94%-92%-33%-84%-108%-57%-373%-33%-23%ROICROIC
-32%-33%-72%-103%-16%-34%-80%-67%-188%4%12%Return on equityROE
−32%−34%————————10%Retained to equityRetained/eq
Balance sheet
$16M$25M$14M$22M$21M$29M$13M$17M$36M$36M$25MCash & investmentsCash+inv
$2M$4M$3M$6M$9M$12M$7M$10M$12M$11M$11MReceivablesReceiv.
$3M$4M$5M$4M$4M$7M$6M$8M$6M$6M$5MInventoryInvent.
$4M$5M$4M$4M$6M$5M$5M$5M$6M$5M$5MAccounts payablePayables
$611K$3M$4M$6M$8M$13M$8M$12M$12M$11M$11MOperating working capitalOper. WC
$83M$80M$49M$34M$39M$52M$31M$40M$63M$92M$79MCurrent assetsCur. assets
$13M$12M$10M$11M$17M$18M$14M$16M$44M$34M$36MCurrent liabilitiesCur. liab.
6.2×6.6×4.8×3.0×2.3×3.0×2.1×2.5×1.4×2.7×2.2×Current ratioCurr. ratio
$3M$5M$3M$1M$2M$2M$2M$2M$2M$3M—Net PP&ENet PP&E
$844K$2M$331K$0$0$0—————GoodwillGoodwill
$88M$91M$60M$43M$48M$63M$44M$49M$71M$108M$106MTotal assetsAssets
($16M)($25M)($14M)($22M)($21M)($29M)($13M)($17M)($36M)($36M)($25M)Net debt / (cash)Net debt
————$19M$23M$20M$20M$47M——Total liabilitiesTotal liab.
$142K$617K($149K)($17K)($137K)($172K)($173K)————Noncontrolling interestsNCI
$74M$77M$48M$29M$28M$40M$24M$30M$23M$64M$69MShareholders’ equityEquity
10.7%8.2%19.6%7.0%2.0%9.7%2.7%9.6%6.6%7.7%6.8%Stock comp / revenueSBC/rev
—$600K$1M$331K——————$331KGoodwill written downGW imp.
Per share
64.0M69.9M73.2M80.3M82.3M88.8M91.4M109M133M175M188MShares out (diluted)Shares
$0.35$0.40$0.33$0.37$0.49$0.51$0.52$0.37$0.38$0.22$0.23Revenue / shareRev/sh
$-0.37$-0.36$-0.47$-0.37$-0.05$-0.15$-0.21$-0.18$-0.33$0.01$0.04EPS (diluted)EPS
$-0.41$-0.38$-0.40$-0.26$-0.06$-0.13$-0.20$-0.15$-0.11$-0.09$-0.07Owner earnings / shareOE/sh
$-0.41$-0.41$-0.40$-0.26$-0.06$-0.13$-0.20$-0.15$-0.11$-0.10$-0.10Free cash flow / shareFCF/sh
$0.00$0.01————————$0.00Dividends / shareDiv/sh
$0.01$0.04$0.02$0.00$0.01$0.01$0.01$0.01$0.01$0.01$0.03Cap. spending / shareCapex/sh
$1.16$1.10$0.65$0.36$0.35$0.45$0.26$0.27$0.18$0.37$0.37Book value / shareBVPS
Per-share growththe realized rate an owner's share compounded
9-yr5-yr
Revenue / share−4.9%/yr−14.4%/yr
Capital spending / share+3.2%/yr+4.5%/yr
Book value / share−12.0%/yr+1.2%/yr

Owner-earnings bridge

FY2021–FY2025cash-flow statement, SEC EDGAR →

Net income is the accountant's number; owner earnings is the cash an owner could take out. The walk between them, off the cash-flow statement, and whether the gap is widening or holding.

In fiscal 2025 the business earned ($16M) of owner earnings, the operating cash left after the $830K it takes just to hold its position. It put $608K more into growth; free cash flow, after that spending, was ($17M).

FY2025FY2024FY2023FY2022FY2021
Reported net income$3M($44M)($20M)($19M)($13M)
Depreciation & amortizationnon-cash charge added back+$830K+$637K+$608K+$722K+$669K
Stock-based compensationreal costnon-cash, but a real cost+$3M+$3M+$4M+$1M+$4M
Working capital & othertiming of cash in and out, other non-cash items−$22M+$26M+$4K−$351K−$2M
Cash from operations($16M)($14M)($15M)($18M)($11M)
Maintenance capital expenditurethe spending needed just to hold position and volume−$830K−$637K−$608K−$833K−$669K
Owner earnings($16M)($15M)($16M)($19M)($11M)
Growth capital expenditurediscretionary; spent to get bigger, not to stand still−$608K−$179K−$341K—−$365K
Free cash flow($17M)($15M)($16M)($19M)($12M)
Owner-earnings marginowner earnings ÷ revenue-42%-30%-39%-39%-25%

Owner earnings is the cash an owner could pull out without starving the business: operating cash less the maintenance capital it must spend to hold its position (here about $830K, roughly its depreciation, the rate its assets wear out). The other $608K of its capital spending is growth it chose, not upkeep it owed; charged only with the maintenance it must do, the business earns well more than the year's free cash flow shows. The cash-flow statement also adds stock comp back as non-cash, but it is a real cost paid in shares; counted as the expense it is (less $3M), owner earnings is nearer ($19M).

Much of fiscal 2025's profit didn't arrive as operating cash; it sits in “working capital & other” above. That can be a real inventory or timing swing, or profit that doesn't run through operating cash at all: a heavy tax year, equity-method earnings, or investment income booked through investing. For a year like this, owner earnings understates the cash earned; the full cash-flow statement carries the rest.

Maintenance capex is estimated as depreciation where a growing business invests above it; free cash flow is the figure the scorecard's free-cash margin reads.

III

Quality & stewardship

Returns, the balance sheet, capital allocation, and pay.

Owner’s Scorecard

FY2025 10-K · source on SEC EDGAR →
Material weakness in financial controls
“We are in the process of developing and implementing our remediation plan for the identified material weaknesses, and we expect that this work will continue in 2026.”

The figures below are only as sound as the controls that produced them. read the note →

Will it survive?

  • Can it pay its interest? —
    No meaningful interest burden
    Little or no interest expense reported
    What this means

    Little or no interest expense reported, the business isn't leaning on lenders to operate.

  • How heavy is the debt, net of cash? +$36M
    Net cash, debt-free
    Cash $36M − debt $0
    What this means

    Cash and short-term investments exceed every dollar of debt by $36M, on net the company owes nothing, and can act from strength when others can't. Net debt is the leverage figure that matters: the cash is already set against the debt. Strategic or illiquid investments aren't counted here.

  • How long is cash tied up? —
    Not enough data
    What this means

    The filing data didn't include the inputs for this check.

Is it a good business?

  • Return on invested capital —
    Not enough data
    Industry peers: median -11%
    What this means

    The filing data didn't include the inputs for this check.

  • Owner-earnings margin -40%
    Consumes cash through the cycle
    10-yr median margin, range -120%–-12%; latest ($16M) = operating cash ($16M) − maintenance capex $830K
    Industry peers: median -3%
    What this means

    What an owner could take out without starving the business: operating cash less the maintenance capital it must spend to hold its position — Buffett's owner earnings. That's -42% of revenue this year, a -40% median across 10 years. Treating stock comp as the real expense it is (less $3M of SBC) leaves ($19M).

  • Are earnings backed by cash? -5.96×
    Thinly cash-backed
    Cash from ops ($16M) ÷ net income $3M

    In the filing’s words The filing discloses a material weakness in its financial controls — the reported numbers here, and the record built on them, are only as reliable as the controls that produced them.

    What this means

    How much of reported profit showed up as operating cash. Above 1× is reassuring; well below suggests earnings lean on accruals. One year is noisy, growth and working-capital swings distort it, and this is operating cash, not free cash. Watch the multi-year trend.

How is the cash used?

  • Where do the earnings go? —
    Not enough data
    What this means

    The filing data didn't include the inputs for this check.

  • Investing or harvesting? 1.73×
    Expanding
    Capex $1M ÷ depreciation & amortization as filed $830K
    What this means

    Descriptive, not a grade. Above ~1× means investing faster than assets wear out (growth, or, sustained for years, today's earnings carrying less depreciation than tomorrow's will). Below means spending less than it's wearing out (efficiency, or a melting asset base). The ratio won't tell you which; the filings will.

The promise and the pay packet

  • Is the buyback buying ownership, or mopping up? 7.7%
    The count is rising
    Stock compensation $3M (fiscal 2025), 7.7% of revenue · no repurchases · diluted shares +91.6% since 2022
    What this means

    Stock handed to employees is a real cost paid in the owner's own currency: it is charged against profit, but the shares it creates are permanent. Many companies repurchase stock at the same time, which looks like a return of capital and often is not — if the count barely moves, the cash merely cancelled the pay packet and bought the owner nothing. The three states worth telling apart are a count genuinely shrinking, a count standing still despite large repurchases, and a count rising because the issuance was never offset at all.

Graham’s defensive tests · 1 of 4 met

Graham’s numerical criteria for the defensive investor (The Intelligent Investor, ch. 14), run on the filings. A floor of safety, not a buy signal; many fine modern businesses fail his strictest liquidity rules by design.

  • Adequate size Miss
    Revenue ≥ $2B · $39M
    What this means

    Big enough to weather a storm. Graham's 1972 floor was ~$100M of sales (≈ $700M today); we use a $2B revenue line as a conservative modern stand-in.

  • Strong liquidity Pass
    Current ratio ≥ 2× · 2.70×
    What this means

    Current assets at least twice current liabilities, near-term bills covered without touching the business. Strict by design: many cash-rich modern firms run leaner and miss it, holding their cushion in longer-dated securities.

  • Earnings stability Miss
    A profit every year (10-yr record) · 9 loss years
    What this means

    Graham wanted earnings in each of the past ten years, the stability a defensive owner leans on.

  • Dividend record Miss
    Uninterrupted dividends · 1 of 10 yrs
    What this means

    An unbroken dividend was Graham's mark of durability. He wanted twenty years; the filings show about ten, and a single suspension breaks the streak. Non-payers, many fine modern compounders, fall outside his defensive net by design.

  • Earnings growth —
    Earnings +33% over the record · —
    What this means

    Earnings were negative early in the record, a growth rate isn't meaningful.

  • Moderate price —
    P/E ≤ 15 and P/E × P/B ≤ 22.5 · decided by the price
    What this means

    Graham's valuation gate, the wall he kept between a sound business and a sound investment. Three-year average earnings are $-0.11/share (latest year $0.01), the averaged base the calculator's gate runs on, and book value is $0.34/share. Enter a price in “What the price implies” just below for the P/E, P/B, and whether it clears. But this is the rule Buffett outgrew: there's no hard P/E law, and a wonderful business can deserve a far richer multiple if the thesis holds, treat it as the bargain-hunter's floor, not a verdict on the price.

Durability & moat, 2016–2025

Whether the record’s returns held, and what the capital reinvested earned.

  • Profitable years 1 of 10
    What this means

    Lost money in 9 year(s), look at what happened there before trusting the average.

  • Operating margin −121% → −51% (3-yr avg ends)

    In the filing’s words The margin widened even though the filing names price competition — the gain came from volume or cost, not pricing power. Read where.

    What this means

    Through the cycle the operating margin widened — about −121% early to −51% lately, median −86% — pricing power intact or improving.

  • Worst year 2018 · −163.4% op. margin
    What this means

    Operations went underwater in 2018, understand why before trusting the good years.

  • Dividend record paid
    What this means

    Paid a dividend in 1 of the years on record.

All figures as filed; the source filing is linked above.

Current Position

as of the latest quarter, Jun 27, 2026

Can the business pay what it owes this year, off the freshest balance sheet: the quality of the assets, the debt actually coming due, and what a low ratio means here.

Current assets$79M
  • Cash & short-term investments$25M
  • Receivables$11M
  • Inventory$5M
  • Other current assets$39M
Current liabilities$36M
  • Accounts payable$5M
  • Other current liabilities$32M
Current ratio2.18×all current assets ÷ what's due · Graham looked for 2×
Quick ratio2.05×stricter: inventory excluded
Cash ratio0.68×strictest: cash alone against what's due
Working capital$43Mthe cushion left after near-term bills
Cash runway1.4 yrsthe business is consuming cash; this is how long the cash on hand lasts at that rate
Revenue, latest quarter vs. a year ago+50.6%the freshest read on whether the business is still growing
Current ratio, recent quarters1.4× → 2.2×
Deeper floors
Tangible book value$69Mequity stripped of goodwill & intangibles
Net current asset value$42MGraham's net-net: current assets less all liabilities
Debt incl. operating leases$1M$1M of it operating leases
Deferred revenue$7Mcustomer cash collected before delivery; operating float

From the company's latest filing.

Management, ownership & pay

read the proxy →

From the proxy: how much of the business the people running it own, and how they are paid, beside what the business earned for its owners in the same years.

Fiscal yearChief executivePay, as filed“Actually paid”Owner earnings
2023Mr. Murray$1.0M$1.7M($16M)
2023Mr. Murray$1.0M$1.7M($16M)
2024Mr. Murray$2.4M$2.5M($15M)
2024Mr. Murray$2.4M$2.5M($15M)
2025Mr. Murray$2.3M$2.9M($16M)
2025Mr. Murray$2.3M$2.9M($16M)

Both pay figures are the company’s own, from the pay-versus-performance table its proxy statement files. “As filed” is the Summary Compensation Table total: salary, bonus, and equity awards at their value on the day of grant. “Actually paid” is the SEC’s prescribed recalculation, which re-marks those equity awards to what they became as they vested; it can swing far above or below the filed figure in either direction, and negative years occur. Owner earnings are the whole business's, from the record above, for the same fiscal years.

  • Insider ownership5%

    The stake all directors and executive officers hold together, per the 2026 proxy: skin in the game, the first thing Munger reads.

  • Stock-based compensation$3M

    The slice of the business handed to employees in shares in fiscal 2025, 7.7% of revenue. Buffett's oldest accounting fight: this is compensation, compensation is an expense, real whether or not the headline earnings admit it. One trap: the cash-flow statement adds SBC back, so the operating cash, and the owner earnings drawn from it, are flattered by exactly this amount; counted as the cost it is, what an owner keeps is lower.

Peers, Semiconductors

The same industry, side by side on owner economics, research and the inventory cycle. Each column names the period it is read over, and a median resting on fewer than three years carries that count beside it; the group median at the foot is the line to read each figure against.

CompanyRevenuelatest FY, USDGross marginmedian over the recordOp. marginmedian over the recordROICmedian over the recordOwner earn. marginmedian over the recordR&D / revenuelatest FYCapex / revenuelatest FYInventory dayslatest FY
AIPArteris Inc.$71M90%-56.0%-11163%2y-3%70.7%2.0%—
MRAMEverspin Technologies Inc.$55M52%-14.1%-29%11%25.5%12.4%145
NVTSNavitas Semiconductor Corporation$46M33%-196.7%-41%-108%108.5%3.2%153
KOPNKopin Corporation$39M35%-65.8%-70%-40%17.0%3.7%—
LPTHLightPath Technologies Inc.$37M35%-4.8%-5%-0%8.2%3.4%173
ICGIntchains Group Limited$33M55%5.6%8%-8%—2.1%93
SPCBSuperCom Ltd. Ordinary Shares (Israel)$28M39%-32.9%-17%-30%—3.2%64
NVECNVE Corporation$26M79%61.3%21%52%12.0%8.3%462
Group median—45%-23.5%-23%-6%21.3%3.3%—
IV

The price

What a price has to assume.

What the price implies

reverse-DCF

Kopin Corporation is profitable, but owner earnings are negative this year because capital spending currently outruns operating cash, a build-out, so the owner-earnings reverse-DCF has no positive base to grow. We read the price from both ends instead: type a price to see the steady-state profitability it demands, then set the mature margin you would believe and weigh the two against each other. Nothing leaves your browser unless you enter it in your notebook.

$
The assumptions

Revenue, delivered0%/yr’20→’25

Enter a price to run it.

Owner earnings it must reach—
Margin the price demands—
Owner-earnings margin today−42%

Two reads of one future. From your price: the owner earnings the company must reach, valued at a mature multiple and discounted back at your rate, expressed as the margin it implies on revenue grown at your rate. From your belief: the mature margin you would credit, set on the dial above. When the margin the price demands runs above the one you would believe, you are paying for a future taken on faith. For a deep cyclical at a trough, normalized through-cycle earnings are the better lens; this mode is for the genuinely unprofitable, and for the profitable business whose capital spending currently outruns its cash.

Weigh KOPN against another business →

The owners of KOPN: the meeting and the votes →

Cite: Owner Scorecard, "Kopin Corporation (KOPN), the owner's record," https://ownerscorecard.com/c/KOPN, data as of 2026-08-17.

Manual order: ← KOP its page in the Manual KOS →

Industry order: ← KLIC the Semiconductors chapter LAES →