CGNX
COGNEX CORP
Next earnings Jul 28, 2026 · consensus $0.43 EPS, $298M rev
Last earnings +5.8% on 2026-05-06
$67.80
▼ -0.82%$67.80▲ +117.00%
over 1Y
L $31.24H $68.36
Earnings Dividend Split Congress buy Congress sellGrouped by date · hover a pin to expand
Today-0.8%
1W+1.9%
1M+2.6%
3M+38.1%
YTD+84.1%
1Y+117.0%
Hold
Conviction
Horizon
Long (>12mo)
12-mo target
$•••
Street · 29 analysts
Buy
Best-in-class machine-vision franchise with 67% gross margins and recovering profits, but a 97x P/E already prices the cyclical rebound.
P/E (price / FY diluted EPS) 97.2 · FY2025 EPS
The read
Middling fundamentals and a rich price (~81% above fair value) leave little margin of safety — a wait-and-see.
Cognex is a high-quality, asset-light technology leader in industrial machine vision, with structural exposure to logistics, packaging, consumer electronics, automotive and semiconductor automation (its top markets are ~85% of revenue). FY2025 showed a cyclical recovery: revenue grew 8.7% to $994M, operating income jumped 41.3% to $163M, and operating cash flow surged 64.7% to $246M on minimal capex ($8.74M). The economics are excellent — 66.9% gross margin, a debt-light balance sheet (liabilities/equity 0.35x), and $263M cash.
The problem is the price. At 97.2x EPS of $0.68 and 11.0x sales, the stock discounts a full return to peak earnings power. Net income of $114M remains far below the $280M earned in FY2021, and the multi-year revenue path ($1.04B in FY2021 down to $838M in FY2023, now recovering to $994M) shows how cyclical and end-market-dependent the business is. ROE of just 7.7% reflects that depressed earnings base against a large equity cushion. Management is returning capital opportunistically — $151M of buybacks (up 125.4%, shrinking shares 2.4%) and $54.6M of dividends — under the $500M program authorized in 2022.
AI-generated analysis, produced by our proprietary engine from SEC filing data.
Investment recommendation produced by TENK/calls (tenkcalls.com), Luxembourg. Completed Jun 21, 2026, 4:47 PM ET. Ratings & methodology: definitions · All recommendations to date: track record · Conflicts: disclosures. Not investment advice.
Financials · annual, by fiscal year
| Line item | FY21 | FY22 | FY23 | FY24 | FY25 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $1.04B | $1.01B | $838M | $915M | $994M |
| Gross profit | $760M | $722M | $601M | $626M | $665M |
| Operating income | $315M | $246M | $131M | $115M | $163M |
| Net income | $280M | $216M | $113M | $106M | $114M |
| Diluted EPS | $1.56 | $1.23 | $0.65 | $0.62 | $0.68 |
| Net margin | 27.0% | 21.4% | 13.5% | 11.6% | 11.5% |
Annual figures from SEC 10-K XBRL filings. Open the filing links below for full statement detail.
Key statistics
Valuation
Enterprise value$11.0B
EV / EBITDA63.0
EV / Sales11.1
EV / FCF46.5
P / FCF47.7
PEG (trailing)12.80
Earnings yield1.0%
FCF yield2.1%
Quality & risk
ROIC (est.)8.6%
Free cash flow$237M
Total debt—
Net cash$263M
Altman Z-Score14.25 safe
Piotroski F-Score7/8
Capital returns
Buyback yield1.3%
Dividend yield (est.)0.5%
Shareholder yield1.8%
Shares Δ YoY-2.4%
Computed from SEC XBRL annual figures + the current quote. EV and ROIC use long-term + current debt where filed; estimates, not investment advice.
Disclosure timeline
SEC · 8-Ks + reportsSome governance/structural items recently, but no outright red flags.
Recent filings
all on EDGAR ↗144Filing2026-06-30open ↗144Filing2026-06-29open ↗4Period ending 2018-02-202026-05-28open ↗144Filing2026-05-27open ↗SDFiling2026-05-22open ↗144/AFiling2026-05-13open ↗4Period ending 2021-02-162026-05-12open ↗4Period ending 2026-05-112026-05-12open ↗144Filing2026-05-12open ↗144Filing2026-05-11open ↗144Filing2026-05-11open ↗4Period ending 2026-05-062026-05-08open ↗
Frequently asked
- Is COGNEX CORP (CGNX) a buy?
- CGNX currently carries a Hold rating with 3/5 conviction, derived from its latest SEC filings. Best-in-class machine-vision franchise with 67% gross margins and recovering profits, but a 97x P/E already prices the cyclical rebound.
- What is CGNX's fair value?
- A Modified-Graham model based on CGNX's SEC fundamentals estimates a fair value of about $12.79. It is an estimate from reported earnings, not a price target.
- Is CGNX overvalued or undervalued?
- Against a Modified-Graham fair-value estimate, CGNX currently appears overvalued relative to its SEC-grounded earnings power.
- What is COGNEX CORP's quality score?
- CGNX scores 65.07113406844783/100 (grade B-) on a SEC-grounded quality model spanning value, growth, profitability, financial health and momentum.
Sources: SEC EDGAR (CIK 0000851205, latest 10-Q filed 2026-05-07) · EODHD · Proprietary analysis · as of 6/21/2026, 8:47:06 PM.
Research and education only — not financial advice. TENKis not a registered investment adviser or broker-dealer and gives no personalized advice. Every call is impersonal — identical for all users, generated on a schedule from SEC filings plus a delayed/third-party price feed — may be wrong or out of date, and is not a recommendation to buy or sell any security. The operator and an affiliated trading operation may hold or trade the securities TENK rates; see Disclosures. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Do your own research.