CGNX
Premium GrowerAI neutralCognex Corporation · Technology · United States · $9.3B cap · $107.5M/day traded
$50.01 -1.5% · close 13 Nov · scored 14 Nov
Premium Grower: Strong business with the market behind it, priced at a premium.
After its 4 Nov results, analysts left next year's EPS estimate little changed.
As of 14 Nov 2026, the MoatMap Score for Cognex Corporation (CGNX) is 69/100, ranked against 25,000+ stocks in 38 markets (Quality 80, Value 33, Momentum 52, each scored against its sector).
Does the score work? Each tenth of the ranking, tracked monthly. See the record →
Cognex is a leader in industrial machine vision and barcode reading with a strong balance sheet, and it reported record revenue and margin expansion in its second quarter of 2026. It is also launching semiconductor wafer readers and plans to buy RealSense to move into robotic perception. The business is high quality, but the shares already trade on a demanding valuation, and the RealSense deal adds integration risk in a newer, less proven market.
ABOUT COGNEX CORPORATION
Read
Cognex Corporation is a global leader in machine vision products and solutions, designing, developing, manufacturing, and marketing a wide range of image-based barcode readers and machine vision systems. Its competitive moat is built on proprietary algorithms, advanced software, and specialized hardware that enable automation and quality control in manufacturing and logistics. Cognex maintains a dominant niche market position, benefiting from the increasing demand for automation and data-driven inspection across industries.
FINANCIAL SUMMARY (USD)
| Year | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | CAGR | TTM | 2026E | 2027E | Fwd CAGR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Income and shares | |||||||||
| Revenue | 1.0B | 837.5M | 914.5M | 994.4M | -0.4% | 1.1B | 1.2B | 1.3B | 13.6% |
| Net margin | 21.4% | 13.5% | 11.6% | 11.5% | -9.9 pts | — | — | — | — |
| EPS | 1.24 | 0.66 | 0.62 | 0.68 | -18.1% | 1.43 | 1.14 | 1.19 | 32.2% |
| Share count | 172.6M | 171.6M | 170.4M | 167.0M | -1.1% | 168.4M | — | — | — |
| Balance sheet | |||||||||
| Debt | 39.8M | 78.6M | 70.2M | 76.6M | 24.4% | 70.4M | — | — | — |
| Equity | 1.4B | 1.5B | 1.5B | 1.5B | 1.2% | — | — | — | — |
| Debt/equity | 0.0x | 0.1x | 0.0x | 0.1x | +0.1x | — | — | — | — |
| Cash flow | |||||||||
| Op. cash flow | 243.4M | 112.9M | 149.1M | 245.5M | 0.3% | 295.6M | — | — | — |
| Cash flow margin | 24.2% | 13.5% | 16.3% | 24.7% | +0.5 pts | 26.3% | — | — | — |
| Investing CF | -4.5M | 32.3M | -39.0M | 28.0M | — | — | — | — | — |
| Financing CF | -240.4M | -125.6M | -118.4M | -206.7M | — | — | — | — | — |
No clear trend: not near its 52-week low, and not in a steady uptrend.
Swung more than 73% of stocks we rank over the past year (volatility 59% a year).
How this is worked out
The Price check reads only the chart, the price side of the Momentum score in words; it is not the MoatMap Score.
- Still falling: It set a new 52-week low in the last two weeks, after a deep fall.
- Finding a floor: It fell hard, but has set no new low for more than two weeks.
- Turning up: It has climbed off its low and is back above a rising 50-day average.
- In an uptrend: It is near its 52-week high and above its 200-day average.
- No clear trend (this stock): None of the above: no recent deep fall and no steady climb.
- No read yet: Not enough price history yet: it needs a year of trading.
In past US falls, waiting for Turning up cut the chance of another 20% drop from 42% to 33%. Returns were no better, and 33% of turns failed.
The exact rules
Still falling is a new 52-week low in the last two weeks, at least 25% below the high, with the low set after the high. Finding a floor is the same fall with no new low in the last two weeks. Turning up is 20 or more trading days without a new low, at least 10% off it, and back above a rising 50-day average. In an uptrend is above the 200-day average, with the 50-day average above the 200-day, and within 15% of the high. No clear trend is everything else. No read yet is under 252 trading days of history, or missing data. A new state shows once it has held for three trading days.
In 2,112 US drawdowns since 2001, buying while the price was still falling was followed by a further 20% drop 42% of the time. Waiting for a turn (the Turning up rule above) cut that to 33%, at about 7% higher prices and with no better returns. Part of that cut is simply not buying: 13% of falls never turned, and waiting kept those out. Among turns that were bought, 38% still fell another 20%, and 33% of turns were followed by a new low within six months. The benefit was largest in crashes such as 2008 and 2020.
What it measures: how much the price moved day to day over the past year, scaled to a yearly figure (annualised volatility) and ranked against every stock we cover. Very calm under 20% a year, Calm 20 to 30%, Average 30 to 40%, Bumpy 40 to 55%, Very bumpy above that.
What we found: across about 13,500 stocks in 34 markets (2002 to 2025), past swings were a good guide to the next year's, and bumpier stocks fell further. How much further changed too much between eras to put a number on it.
Calm is not safe: a calm stock can still slide steadily.
Rules fixed before any data was fetched. Describes the chart, not a recommendation.
SCORE BREAKDOWN
FUNDAMENTALS
SECTOR PEERS
Closest peers in Technology, ranked by industry match, size, and score similarity. Cross-listings of CGNX are excluded.
| Ticker | Company | Mkt Cap | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| CGNX | Cognex Corporation(you) | $9.3B | 69 |
| ST | Sensata Technologies Holding plc | $5.9B | 67 |
| MKSI | MKS Inc. | $13.3B | 56 |
| FTV | Fortive Corporation | $18.2B | 76 |
| BMI | Badger Meter, Inc. | $4.4B | 79 |
| TDY | Teledyne Technologies Incorporated | $29.0B | 73 |
| ITRI | Itron, Inc. | $3.8B | 83 |
| NOVT | Novanta Inc. | $5.3B | 48 |
| TRMB | Trimble Inc. | $14.8B | 46 |
| VNT | Vontier Corporation | $4.6B | 89 |
Peer medians: ROE 5.7% · P/E 28.8x · Gross margin 52.2%
Company Deep Dive
A 10,000-word report: the business and its segments, what management promised on earnings calls and whether it delivered, the competition, and how things could turn out.