Latest revenue
$268.4M
as of 2026-04-05
Latest net income
$51.7M
as of 2026-04-05
Net margin
19.3%
as of 2026-04-05
Community sentiment
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CGNX vs S&P 500 · rebased to 100
Market data
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What this company does
ITEM 1: BUSINESS Our Company Founded in 1981, Cognex Corporation (the "Company” or “Cognex”) makes advanced machine vision easy, paving the way for manufacturing and distribution companies to become faster, smarter, and more efficient through automation. We are a global technology leader in industrial machine vision systems that seek to improve efficiency and help solve critical manufacturing and distribution challenges, providing support across a diverse set of industrial end markets. Our solutions blend hardware and software to capture and analyze visual information, aiding the automation of manufacturing and distribution tasks for customers worldwide. Machine vision products are used to…
AI summary unavailable — showing raw filing excerpt
Generated from CGNX's filing dated 2026-02-12
Key risks
ITEM 1A: RISK FACTORS The risks and uncertainties described below are not the only ones that we face. Additional risks and uncertainties that we are unaware of, or that we currently deem immaterial, also may become important factors that affect our company in the future. If any of these risks were to occur, our business, financial condition, or results of operations could be materially and adversely affected. This section includes or refers to certain forward-looking statements. We refer you to the explanation of the qualifications and limitations of such forward-looking statements, appearing under the heading "Forward-Looking Statements" in Part II - Item 7 of this Annual Report on Form…
AI summary unavailable — showing raw filing excerpt
Generated from CGNX's filing dated 2026-02-12
ActaClear Score
Computed from 5 years of SEC fundamentals + latest market data, ranked within Industrial Instruments For Measurement, Display, and Control (18 peers). 10 = best in industry, 5 = median, 0 = worst. Refreshed Jun 10, 2026.
Fair value · DCF
Methodology + caveats (click to expand)
Method. 10-year forecast of free cash flow, discounted at the company's WACC, with a Gordon-growth terminal at year 10. FCF is proxied by last fiscal-year net income (proper FCF needs CFO − CapEx by year, which we don't store yet). Beta defaults to 1.0 when not reported.
Why DCF is fragile. Treat the output as a thinking aid, not a verdict. Honest weaknesses of any DCF:
- Growth is the dominant assumption. No one can foresee 10 years of growth — small changes in the slider can double or halve fair value. The reverse-DCF readout above tells you what the market is implicitly assuming; ask yourself whether that's realistic before trusting either number.
- Terminal value dominates. In most DCFs, 60-80% of the answer comes from the terminal-value calculation — i.e., everything AFTER year 10. A 0.5pp change in terminal growth, or in WACC, can swing fair value by 20-30%.
- WACC is itself a guess. We use a textbook CAPM cost of equity (Rf 4.3%, MRP 5.5%, β from the quote) plus a 6% pretax cost of debt — none of these are the company's actual marginal financing cost.
- No moat / disruption modelling. The model assumes the company keeps earning whatever it earns today, compounding cleanly. Competitive shifts, regulatory action, and technology disruption can invalidate the forecast overnight.
- Net income ≠ free cash flow. For capex-heavy names (semis, telcos) net income overstates distributable cash. For low-capex names (software) it understates. Both reduce the precision of the FV figure.
- Reflexivity. A high stock price often becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy via better hiring, financing, and customer trust. DCF can't see this.
Take the DCF, the reverse-DCF implied growth, the historical multiples, and the community sentiment together. When they agree, conviction. When they disagree, the disagreement is the most informative thing on the page.
Historical multiples
How does CGNX's current valuation compare to its own past?
P/E uses year-end weekly close ÷ (net income ÷ shares outstanding today). Held shares constant at today's count, which understates the per-share earnings improvement from buybacks over the period. PEG uses 5y revenue CAGR as a proxy for EPS growth — close, but not identical (margin expansion or dilution can drive a wedge). Best read as a comparator across companies and industries, not as a precise replica of historical multiples.