Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX – Get Free Report) is one of 377 public companies in the “Electronic Equipment, Instruments & Components” industry, but how does it contrast to its rivals? We will compare Cognex to related businesses based on the strength of its analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, risk, profitability, earnings and valuation.
Analyst Ratings
This is a summary of current ratings for Cognex and its rivals, as provided by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Cognex | 0 | 7 | 10 | 1 | 2.67 |
| Cognex Competitors | 2046 | 7582 | 10385 | 650 | 2.47 |
Cognex currently has a consensus target price of $75.57, indicating a potential upside of 28.08%. As a group, “Electronic Equipment, Instruments & Components” companies have a potential upside of 32.06%. Given Cognex’s rivals higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Cognex has less favorable growth aspects than its rivals.
Risk and Volatility
Cognex has a beta of 1.48, indicating that its stock price is 48% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cognex’s rivals have a beta of -0.17, indicating that their average stock price is 117% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Dividends
Cognex pays an annual dividend of $0.34 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.6%. Cognex pays out 33.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Electronic Equipment, Instruments & Components” companies pay a dividend yield of 1.9% and pay out 71.4% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Cognex has raised its dividend for 10 consecutive years.
Profitability
This table compares Cognex and its rivals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Cognex | 16.05% | 13.50% | 10.02% |
| Cognex Competitors | -167.85% | -25.41% | -6.86% |
Institutional and Insider Ownership
88.1% of Cognex shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 43.3% of shares of all “Electronic Equipment, Instruments & Components” companies are held by institutional investors. 1.7% of Cognex shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 16.6% of shares of all “Electronic Equipment, Instruments & Components” companies are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Earnings and Valuation
This table compares Cognex and its rivals revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Net Income | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Cognex | $1.09 billion | $114.44 million | 57.28 |
| Cognex Competitors | $115.44 billion | $167.44 million | 0.79 |
Cognex’s rivals have higher revenue and earnings than Cognex. Cognex is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its rivals, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.
Summary
Cognex beats its rivals on 10 of the 15 factors compared.
Cognex Company Profile
Cognex Corporation provides machine vision products that capture and analyze visual information to automate manufacturing and distribution tasks worldwide. Its machine vision products are used to automate the manufacturing and tracking of discrete items, including mobile phones, electric vehicle batteries, and e-commerce packages by locating, identifying, inspecting, and measuring them during the manufacturing or distribution process. The company offers VisionPro software, a suite of patented vision tools for advanced programming; QuickBuild that allows customers to build vision applications with a graphical, flowchart-based programming interface; and Cognex deep learning vision software. It also provides a range of inspection tasks, including part location, identification, measurement, assembly verification, and robotic guidance; vision sensors for vision applications, such as checking the presence and size of parts; and the In-Sight product line of vision systems and sensors. In addition, the company offers DataMan, an image-based barcode readers and barcode verifiers. It sells its products to automotive, logistics, consumer electronics, medical-related, semiconductor, consumer products, food and beverage, and others, as well as through a network of distributors and integrators. The company was incorporated in 1981 and is headquartered in Natick, Massachusetts.
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