Stocks · Technology · Hardware, Equipment & Parts
Cognex Corporation CGNX
$64.97 +4.42% Close, Oct 2, 2026 · NASDAQ · Market cap $10.81B
Low risk
Next earnings report: Oct 28, 2026
Scroll or pinch to zoom, drag to move. Daily prices adjusted for splits. Markers: E = earnings (green beat, red miss), S = split, D = dividend.
Three things to know
- Earnings beat analyst estimates in each of the last 14 quarters (average surprise over the last four: +22.0%).
- Diluted EPS over the last four quarters was $1.03, up 45.1% year over year.
- Operating margin widened to 21.9% from 14.2% a year earlier.
PromtFinance scores
Each score is a percentile within the Technology sector (0–100). Under each score: how the stock ranks in its sector on every component. As of Oct 5, 2026.
How fast revenue, earnings and cash flow are growing.
- Revenue growth (TTM, YoY)Top 39%
- EPS growth (TTM, YoY)Top 32%
- FCF growth (TTM, YoY)Top 30%
- Revenue growth, 3-year CAGRBottom 28%
- Revenue growth accelerationTop 29%
Returns on capital, margins, earnings quality and balance-sheet strength.
- Return on invested capitalTop 33%
- Gross marginTop 28%
- Operating marginTop 14%
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Bottom 45%
- Accruals (lower is better)Bottom 38%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Top 30%
How cheap the shares are relative to earnings, cash flow and their own history.
- Earnings yieldTop 45%
- Free-cash-flow yieldBottom 48%
- EBITDA / enterprise valueBottom 47%
- Sales / enterprise valueBottom 24%
- P/E vs own 5-year history (lower is better)Bottom 42%
Strength and persistence of the price trend, including versus the S&P 500.
- 12-month return excluding last monthTop 31%
- 6-month returnTop 43%
- 1-year return vs S&P 500Top 31%
- Distance from 52-week highTop 20%
- Trend checklist (0–4)Top 18%
Earnings surprises and analyst sentiment (estimate-revision history is being collected).
- Average EPS surprise, last 4 quartersTop 25%
- Consecutive EPS beatsTop 9%
- Share of analysts rating BuyBottom 25%
- Upside to consensus price targetBottom 39%
Low volatility, shallow drawdowns, low market sensitivity and modest leverage.
- Volatility, 60 days (lower is better)Top 30%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 yearsTop 37%
- Beta vs S&P 500 (lower is better)Top 29%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Top 30%
What changed
Latest four quarters versus the same period a year earlier (growth: versus one quarter earlier).
| Measure | Before | Now | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (YoY) | 13.8% | 17.1% | ↑ |
| EPS growth (YoY) | 23.5% | 45.1% | ↑ |
| Gross margin | 67.7% | 68.9% | ↑ |
| Operating margin | 14.2% | 21.9% | ↑ |
| FCF margin | 19.3% | 24.6% | ↑ |
Fundamental momentum
| Measure | Now (TTM) | Year / quarter before | Sector rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (TTM, YoY) | 17.1% | 13.8% | ↑ | Top 39% |
| EPS growth (TTM, YoY) | 45.1% | 23.5% | ↑ | Top 32% |
| Gross margin | 68.9% | 67.7% | ↑ | Top 28% |
| Operating margin | 21.9% | 14.2% | ↑ | Top 14% |
| Net margin | 16.1% | 13.1% | ↑ | — |
| Free-cash-flow margin | 24.6% | 19.3% | ↑ | — |
| Return on invested capital | 8.2% | — | Top 33% | |
| Revenue growth, 3-year CAGR | -0.4% | — | Bottom 28% |
Quality of earnings and balance sheet
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Above 1× means profits are backed by cash.
- 1.58×
- Accruals (net income − OCF) / assetsLower is better; high accruals can signal weaker earnings quality.
- -4.7%
- Stock-based compensation / revenueA cost to shareholders through dilution.
- 4.5%
- Receivables growth vs revenue growthReceivables growing much faster than sales can be a warning.
- +5.8 pp
- Net debt / EBITDABelow 1× is conservative; above 3× is high leverage.
- -0.82×
Shareholder returns
- Dividend yield (dividends paid, TTM)
- 0.52%
- Net buyback yield (TTM)
- 0.18%
- Shareholder yield
- 0.70%
- Share count change, 1 year
- +0.8%
- Share count change, 3-year CAGR
- -0.7%
Shareholder yield = dividends + net buybacks over the last four quarters, divided by market cap.
Based on the four quarters through Jul 5, 2026 (filed Aug 6, 2026).
Earnings and expectations
Earnings momentum
- Consecutive EPS beats
- 14
- Beats in the last 8 reports
- 8 of 8
- Average EPS surprise, last 4
- +22.0%
- Average 2-day reaction, last 8
- +0.4%
- Positive 20 days after report
- 4 of 8
Analysts
- Consensus price target
- $75.73
- Target vs current price
- +16.6%
- Analysts with a rating
- 32
- Share rating Buy or Strong Buy
- 47%
- Consensus rating
- Hold
How the stock reacted to recent reports
| Report date | EPS surprise | 2 days | 5 days | 20 days | 60 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 5, 2026 | +6.2% | -1.1% | -12.1% | -16.0% | — |
| May 6, 2026 | +36.9% | +5.8% | +11.6% | +12.3% | +10.9% |
| Feb 11, 2026 | +22.7% | -1.3% | +30.2% | +17.0% | +51.3% |
| Oct 29, 2025 | +22.2% | +0.3% | -15.4% | -20.2% | -16.7% |
| Jul 30, 2025 | +8.7% | -1.5% | +22.2% | +28.1% | +35.1% |
| Apr 30, 2025 | +23.1% | +1.9% | +3.8% | +13.1% | +27.2% |
| Feb 12, 2025 | +33.3% | -0.9% | -15.1% | -21.7% | -25.7% |
| Oct 30, 2024 | +5.3% | -0.3% | -1.9% | -0.9% | -2.2% |
Returns from the close before each report. Past reactions do not determine future ones.
Earnings history
| Report date | EPS | Estimate | Surprise | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 5, 2026 | $0.45 | $0.42 | +6.2% | $291.3M |
| May 6, 2026 | $0.34 | $0.25 | +36.9% | $268.4M |
| Feb 11, 2026 | $0.27 | $0.22 | +22.7% | $252.3M |
| Oct 29, 2025 | $0.33 | $0.27 | +22.2% | $276.9M |
| Jul 30, 2025 | $0.25 | $0.23 | +8.7% | $249.1M |
| Apr 30, 2025 | $0.16 | $0.13 | +23.1% | $216.0M |
| Feb 12, 2025 | $0.20 | $0.15 | +33.3% | $229.7M |
| Oct 30, 2024 | $0.20 | $0.19 | +5.3% | $234.7M |
Valuation in context
| Multiple | Now | 5-year median | 5-year percentile | Sector rank (cheapness) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P/E (trailing) | 63.1× | 55.0× | 67th | Top 45% |
| P/E (forward) | 38.7× | — | — | — |
| EV / EBITDA | 37.9× | — | — | Bottom 47% |
| EV / Sales | 9.72× | — | — | Bottom 24% |
| Free-cash-flow yield | 2.48% | — | — | Bottom 48% |
| Earnings yield | 1.59% | — | — | Top 45% |
P/E over the past five years
Range 34.0× – 87.6× since Jul 4, 2021. Each point: price on the filing date divided by trailing-twelve-month EPS known then.
What moved the stock over the past year
- Price return, 1 year
- +41.8%
- Earnings per share growth (TTM)
- +45.1%
- Change in P/E multiple
- +13.9%
Most of the move came from earnings growth.
Technical state
Trend checklist
- ✓ Price above 20-day average
- ✓ Price above 50-day average
- ✓ Price above 200-day average
- ✓ 50-day average above 200-day
- ✓ MACD histogram positive
Trend quality
- Days above the 50-day average
- 2
- Days above the 200-day average
- 189
- 50-day average slope (20 days)
- -3.1%
- 200-day average slope (20 days)
- +4.4%
- Distance from 50-day average
- +4.8%
- Distance from 200-day average
- +16.5%
- RSI (14)
- 61.5
- Relative volume
- 1.25×
Risk and drawdowns
- Volatility, 60 days (annualized)
- 47.7%
- Volatility vs own 5-year history
- 68th percentile · Normal for this stock
- Beta vs S&P 500 (2 years, weekly)
- 1.11
- Correlation with S&P 500
- 0.33
- Current drawdown from 1-year high
- -10.3%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 years
- -56.0%
Largest declines in the past six years
| From peak | To low | Decline | Length | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 12, 2021 | Apr 8, 2025 | -75.2% | 1042 days | Not yet recovered |
Declines of 10% or more from a closing high, measured on daily closes.
Financial statements
- Market cap
- $10.81B
- P/E (TTM)
- 63.1
- EPS, diluted (TTM)
- $1.03
- Revenue (TTM)
- $1.09B
- Dividend yield
- 0.52%
- 52-week range
- $34.60 – $72.88
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $1.04B | $1.01B | $837.5M | $914.5M | $994.4M |
| Gross profit | $759.8M | $721.9M | $601.2M | $625.8M | $665.4M |
| Operating income | $315.1M | $246.2M | $130.7M | $115.1M | $162.6M |
| Net income | $279.9M | $215.5M | $113.2M | $106.2M | $114.4M |
| EPS (diluted) | $1.56 | $1.23 | $0.65 | $0.62 | $0.68 |
| Q3 2024 | Q4 2024 | Q1 2025 | Q2 2025 | Q3 2025 | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 | Q2 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $234.7M | $229.7M | $216.0M | $249.1M | $276.9M | $252.3M | $268.4M | $291.3M |
| Net income | $29.6M | $28.3M | $23.6M | $40.5M | $17.7M | $32.7M | $51.7M | $72.8M |
| EPS (diluted) | $0.17 | $0.16 | $0.14 | $0.24 | $0.10 | $0.19 | $0.31 | $0.43 |
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | $314.1M | $243.4M | $112.9M | $149.1M | $245.5M |
| Capital expenditure | -$15.5M | -$19.7M | -$23.1M | -$15.0M | -$8.7M |
| Free cash flow | $298.6M | $223.7M | $89.8M | $134.0M | $236.8M |
| Dividends paid | -$43.3M | -$45.9M | -$49.1M | -$52.3M | -$54.6M |
| Net share buybacks | -$161.7M | -$204.3M | -$79.8M | -$67.1M | -$151.7M |
Cash outflows are shown as negative numbers.
- Cash and short-term investments
- $404.4M
- Total assets
- $2.18B
- Total liabilities
- $549.1M
- Total debt
- $72.5M
- Net debt
- -$230.0M
- Shareholders’ equity
- $1.63B
As of Jul 5, 2026 (filed Aug 6, 2026).
Dividends
| Ex-date | Amount | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Aug 20, 2026 | $0.09 | Sep 3, 2026 |
| May 21, 2026 | $0.09 | Jun 4, 2026 |
| Feb 26, 2026 | $0.09 | Mar 12, 2026 |
| Nov 13, 2025 | $0.09 | Nov 28, 2025 |
| Aug 14, 2025 | $0.08 | Aug 28, 2025 |
| May 15, 2025 | $0.08 | May 29, 2025 |
| Feb 27, 2025 | $0.08 | Mar 13, 2025 |
| Nov 14, 2024 | $0.08 | Nov 29, 2024 |
Short interest
- Shares sold short
- 7,132,531
- Days to cover
- 5.01
- Change vs previous report
- -7.3%
FINRA short interest, settlement date Sep 15, 2026.
Stock splits
- Dec 4, 2017
- 2-for-1
- Sep 17, 2013
- 2-for-1
- Dec 19, 1995
- 2-for-1
- Oct 1, 1993
- 2-for-1
- Feb 18, 1992
- 2-for-1