Cognex Corporation. (NASDAQ:CGNX ) Q2 2024 Earnings Conference Call August 1, 2024 8:30 AM ET Company Participants Nathan McCurren - Head of Investor Relations Robert Willett - President, Chief Executive Officer Dennis Fehr - Chief Financial Officer Conference Call Participants Andrew Buscaglia - BNP Paribas Tommy Moll - Stephens Inc. Piyush Avasthy - Citi.
Cognex's margins slumped last quarter. The company, however, expects double-digit year-over-year growth in Q3 revenue.
Cognex Corporation (CGNX) came out with quarterly earnings of $0.23 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.20 per share. This compares to earnings of $0.32 per share a year ago.
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Cognex has been struggling due to weak capex cycles in major end-markets, leading to a sharp reset in investor expectations for revenue and margins. Key end-markets like auto and consumer electronics remain soft, but semiconductor demand is picking up and logistics demand may have stabilized ahead of slow re-expansion in the coming years. Cognex is focusing on developing new markets for its machine vision products through initiatives to expand its salesforce and product portfolio, and long-term automation demand is underpinned by worker shortages.
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Cognex's long-term prospects remain excellent. Its near-term end market outlook is mixed.
National Bank of Canada FI reduced its stake in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX – Free Report) by 97.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 913 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 36,007 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI’s holdings in Cognex were worth $37,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its position in Cognex by 2.4% in the third quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 13,374 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $568,000 after purchasing an additional 313 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its holdings in Cognex by 8.6% during the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 16,434 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $697,000 after buying an additional 1,300 shares during the last quarter. Duality Advisers LP boosted its position in Cognex by 672.2% during the 3rd quarter. Duality Advisers LP now owns 43,257 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,836,000 after buying an additional 37,655 shares during the period. Lmcg Investments LLC grew its holdings in Cognex by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Lmcg Investments LLC now owns 78,018 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $3,311,000 after acquiring an additional 1,982 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Machina Capital S.A.S. purchased a new position in shares of Cognex in the third quarter valued at about $327,000. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. Cognex Trading Up 0.7 % NASDAQ CGNX opened at $47.85 on Monday. Cognex Co. has a 12 month low of $34.28 and a 12 month high of $59.51. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $42.05 and its 200-day moving average price is $39.68. The stock has a market cap of $8.21 billion, a PE ratio of 82.50 and a beta of 1.48. Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $196.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $189.16 million. Cognex had a net margin of 11.76% and a return on equity of 6.81%. The company’s revenue was down 17.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.27 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Cognex Co. will post 0.44 earnings per share for the current year. Cognex Dividend Announcement The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 30th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th will be issued a $0.075 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.63%. Cognex’s payout ratio is currently 51.72%. Insider Buying and Selling In other news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,782 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.54, for a total transaction of $274,942.28. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders. Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Stephens increased their target price on shares of Cognex from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Citigroup upped their target price on Cognex from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 price target (up previously from $47.00) on shares of Cognex in a report on Tuesday, May 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Cognex from $36.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, May 6th. Finally, HSBC raised shares of Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $52.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $49.15. Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on CGNX Cognex Company Profile (Free Report) 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.