Analyst coverage matters?

Seems to, according to this Wall Street Journal article (subscription required to view full article). Here's how it starts:

A year ago, investment analysts from seven brokerage firms shadowed the financial progress of Intevac Inc., a small, Santa Clara, Calif., technology firm. Today, a lone analyst is all that remains.

"That coverage was pretty important to us," says Jeff Andreson, Intevac's chief financial officer. Among other woes, losing coverage "hurts liquidity, making it harder for our institutional investors to build or sell positions," Mr. Andreson says.

Intevac isn't unique. Whether due to layoffs, attrition, retirement or brokerage firms moving analysts around, Wall Street's map of corporate coverage is shrinking these days.