Cognex Corporation

CGNX

Hardware, Equipment & Parts · Technology

Price

$64.07

+0.18 (+0.28%)

Market Cap

$10.66B

Exchange

NASDAQ

Winston Score

Winston is curious

A decent business — some strong pillars, some weaker.

Share count falling — buybacks

−5.9% over 4y

The company has reduced its share count over this period, returning value to shareholders through buybacks.

Diluted shares outstanding: 179.9M (2021) → 169.4M (2025)

Cognex Corporation provides machine vision products that capture and analyze visual information in order 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, aspirin bottles, and automobile tires by locating, identifying, inspecting, and measuring them during the manufacturing or distribution process. The company offers VisionPro software, a suite of patented vision

Winston Score History

Growth Profile

For growth stock investors

When traditional metrics don't capture the full picture, these are the signals growth stock investors use instead.

Revenue Growth

+9.9% YoY

YoY Growth Rate

Slow revenue growth

EPS Growth

+17.6% YoY

YoY Growth Rate

Steady EPS growth

R&D Spend

$139M/ year

→ Flat (-1% vs prior year)

14.0% of revenue

In line with sector average (15%)

Steady R&D investment year-over-year

Insider Activity

4.6%ownership

→ Flat

Insiders holding steady — not selling despite ability to

Cash Position

Cash flow positive

$263M cash & investments

Quarterly Free Cash Flow

↑ Burn rate improving

Company generates more cash than it spends — no dilution risk from fundraising

Growth context

Cognex Corporation is growing revenue at 10% year-over-year. The Winston Score measures business quality today — these growth metrics show what could matter tomorrow.

The Winston Score above measures business quality today. Growth stocks often score lower because they invest in the future rather than maximising current profits. These metrics show what matters most for evaluating that future.

Score breakdown

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Quality

Gross Margin

65.7%

Premium pricing power — 65.7% gross margin

Operating Margin

14.0%

Healthy — 14.0% operating margin

ROCE

2.4%

Weak — 2.4% return on capital

ROIC between 0% and 5%. They earn a few cents back per dollar invested in the business.

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Growth

Sales YoY

+8.7%

Steady sales growth (8.7% YoY)

EPS YoY

+11.3%

Earnings growing (11.3% YoY)

Healthy double-digit earnings growth — what compounders look like.

EPS Consistency

6/8 quarters

Earnings grew in most of the last 8 quarters

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Cash Flow

Cash Conversion

215%

Turns 215% of profit into real cash

FCF Margin

23.8%

Converts sales into free cash efficiently (23.8%)

Free cash flow margin above 20%. Out of every $100 in sales, more than $20 is real cash they keep.

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Stability

Debt / Equity

N/A

Data not available

Interest Cover

100.00x

—

Comfortably covers interest (100.0x)

Interest coverage above 8. Profits cover interest many times over.

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Valuation

P/E Ratio (TTM)

92.9x

Expensive — P/E 92.9

P/E over 35. The market is pricing in heavy, sustained growth.

P/E vs Forward

+52.9

GROWING

Earnings expected to grow meaningfully — cheaper on forward P/E (92.9 → 39.9)

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Dividends

Dividend Yield

0.47%

Small dividend — 0.47% yield

Modest yield. The bulk of any return needs to come from price appreciation.

Dividend Growth

+6.3%

Dividend growing modestly (6.3% YoY)

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