ValueScreener

ValueScreener company report

Cognex Corporation (CGNX)

NASDAQ / Technology / Hardware, Equipment & Parts

Share price

55.67 USD Market dataClose of Oct 15, 2026

Market capitalisation

9.37B USD Market dataClose of Oct 15, 2026
Market data
Oct 15, 2026
Filed accounts
FY2025, filed Feb 12, 2026
Ratios computed
Oct 15, 2026
Filed years
17, FY2008 to FY2025
Four kinds of sourceSEC filingCompany statementMarket dataComputedWhat each means
SEC filingFiled with the SEC
Read from a statement the company filed with the SEC, with the form, fiscal year, filing date and accession beside it.
Company statementCompany statement
What the company says about itself in a filing: an 8-K item, the auditor, its own segment names.
Market dataMarket data
Prices, market value and what analysts publish, with the date they are as of.
ComputedComputed by ValueScreener
Worked out by us from the other three, with the inputs and the formula one press away. A score is a research output, not a rating or a recommendation.
Reading

1 of 10

Overview

What the business is, what it costs, and how it reads on four questions.

Market dataSEC filingComputed

Four questions, at a glance

Quality

Return on invested capital, after tax

7.8% Computed

From the FY2025 filing

Read quality

Valuation

Price to earnings

81.87x Computed

FY2025 accounts, priced at the latest close

Read valuation

Cash generation

Free cash flow yield

2.5% Computed

FY2025 accounts, priced at the latest close

Read cash generation

Revenue and net income, as filed

FY2016 Revenue: 520.8M USDFY2016 Net income: 143.7M USDFY2017 Revenue: 748.0M USDFY2017 Net income: 176.7M USDFY2018 Revenue: 806.3M USDFY2018 Net income: 219.3M USDFY2019 Revenue: 725.6M USDFY2019 Net income: 203.9M USDFY2020 Revenue: 811.0M USDFY2020 Net income: 176.2M USDFY2021 Revenue: 1.04B USDFY2021 Net income: 279.9M USDFY2022 Revenue: 1.01B USDFY2022 Net income: 215.5M USDFY2023 Revenue: 837.5M USDFY2023 Net income: 113.2M USDFY2024 Revenue: 914.5M USDFY2024 Net income: 106.2M USDFY2025 Revenue: 994.4M USDFY2025 Net income: 114.4M USD
Revenue Net income10 filed fiscal years, from the annual reports; the table in Filings names each document.
Named tests met
1 of 30 Which tests
The business, and the score behind its five axes

The reading, in brief

Is it cheap

Price to earnings is 81.87x at the close of 2026-10-15 on FY2025 figures; the lines are 15.00x (Graham's defensive ceiling) and, by market convention, 10.00x, 25.00x and 40.00x, and this sits above the highest.

Today, against the Hardware, Equipment & Parts industry (47 companies), 81.87x sits at the 81st percentile; the middle half of that group runs from 27.74x to 71.43x.

Is it good

Return on invested capital was 7.8% in FY2025, in the band labelled "Likely below the cost of capital" (below 8.0%), on lines anchored on Damodaran's cost-of-capital data, suggesting returns below the usual cost of the capital employed.

Today, against the Technology sector (220 companies), 7.8% sits at the 49th percentile; the middle half of that group runs from 1.2% to 17.5%.

Is it safe

Cognex Corporation held more cash than debt at the end of FY2025 (net cash of 186.3m USD), so net debt to EBITDA is a net cash position rather than a leverage reading.

Year by year against peers
Whether Cognex Corporation's return on equity stayed above the median of the Hardware, Equipment & Parts industry, year by year. (FY2016 to FY2025, 10 fiscal years of Cognex Corporation with a comparable figure)
The direction
Which way Cognex Corporation's return on equity has moved, and how steadily. (FY2016 to FY2025, 10 filed years of Cognex Corporation)
What could explain it
What in Cognex Corporation's filed statements could explain the movements. (8 readings drawn from the statement lines Cognex Corporation filed)
What to check next
What to check next on Cognex Corporation, and where in its filings. (6 questions for Cognex Corporation)
In one paragraph
One paragraph on Cognex Corporation's returns, cash, balance sheet and price. (15 of sixteen figures read for Cognex Corporation)

These are CGNX’s filed figures. The research desk says what they mean, against peers and its own years, with what to check next.

Research CGNXPart of Serious. New accounts start with 30 days of Professional, free, no card.

2 of 10

What changed

The newest filing, what it moved, and when the next one is due.

SEC filingCompany statement

The newest accounts on file are the FY2025 annual report: 10-K, filed Feb 12, 2026, accession 0000851205-26-000012.

3 of 10

Quality

The returns the business earns on its capital, and the margins behind them.

SEC filingComputed

Cognex Corporation: returns on capital and margins, each with its source
FigureValue, source and document
Return on invested capital, after tax7.8% ComputedFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 12, 2026, 0000851205-26-000012
Return on equity7.7% ComputedFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 12, 2026, 0000851205-26-000012
Return on capital employed, pre-tax8.9% ComputedFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 12, 2026, 0000851205-26-000012
Return on assets5.7% ComputedFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 12, 2026, 0000851205-26-000012
Gross margin66.9% ComputedFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 12, 2026, 0000851205-26-000012
Operating margin16.4% ComputedFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 12, 2026, 0000851205-26-000012
Net margin11.5% ComputedFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 12, 2026, 0000851205-26-000012
CGNX 11.5%
NOVT 5.5%BMI 15.4%LFUS -3.0%ST 0.8%OSIS 8.7%
-3.0%15.4%
Net margin: CGNX against the 5 companies named under Valuation context, each as filed for its own latest year. Placement only: no average is drawn.

4 of 10

Financial strength

What it owes against what it owns, and whether it can meet what falls due.

SEC filingComputedCompany statement

Cognex Corporation: leverage, liquidity and distress, each with its source
FigureValue, source and document
Debt to equity0.05 ComputedFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 12, 2026, 0000851205-26-000012
Current ratio3.80 ComputedFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 12, 2026, 0000851205-26-000012
Quick ratio3.05 ComputedFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 12, 2026, 0000851205-26-000012
Interest coverage
Why n/a

No interest expense is filed for this year, so coverage is not computed.

n/a ComputedFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 12, 2026, 0000851205-26-000012
Altman Z-score12.13 ComputedClose of Oct 15, 2026 · FY2025 10-K, filed Feb 12, 2026, 0000851205-26-000012
Net debt-260.4M ComputedFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 12, 2026, 0000851205-26-000012
Total assets 2.02BTotal liabilities 524.7MShareholders' equity 1.49BOwnsOwes, and equity
Total assets Total liabilities Shareholders’ equity
The balance sheet, line by line

Financial health

What Cognex Corporation owned and owed at the end of fiscal 2025, from the balance sheet it filed (10-K, filed Feb 12, 2026, 0000851205-26-000012).

Cognex Corporation: balance sheet position
Total assets2.02B FiledFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 12, 2026
Total liabilities524.7M FiledFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 12, 2026
Shareholders' equity1.49B FiledFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 12, 2026
Cash337.0M FiledFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 12, 2026
Total debt76.6M FiledFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 12, 2026
Net debt-260.4M
Current ratio3.80
Debt to equity0.05
  • Interest cover: FY2025: No interest expense is filed for this year, so coverage is not computed.

Read from the filed balance sheet for each year, with the income statement of the same year supplying operating profit where a ratio needs it. Nothing here is a view on whether this company is sound.

5 of 10

Valuation context

What the market charges for it, against its own record and companies like it.

Market dataSEC filingComputed

Cognex Corporation: what the market charges, each with its source
FigureValue, source and document
Price to earnings81.87x ComputedClose of Oct 15, 2026 · FY2025 10-K, filed Feb 12, 2026, 0000851205-26-000012
P/E on trailing twelve months57.70x ComputedClose of Oct 15, 2026 · Trailing four quarters, each as known on the day; the quarterly filings are listed under Filings
Price to book6.32x ComputedClose of Oct 15, 2026 · FY2025 10-K, filed Feb 12, 2026, 0000851205-26-000012
Price to sales9.48x ComputedClose of Oct 15, 2026 · FY2025 10-K, filed Feb 12, 2026, 0000851205-26-000012
Enterprise value to EBIT56.85x ComputedClose of Oct 15, 2026 · FY2025 10-K, filed Feb 12, 2026, 0000851205-26-000012
Enterprise value to EBITDA50.54x ComputedClose of Oct 15, 2026 · FY2025 10-K, filed Feb 12, 2026, 0000851205-26-000012
Price to earnings over growth
Why n/a

We do not hold this figure for this company, so there is nothing to show.

n/a ComputedClose of Oct 15, 2026 · FY2025 10-K, filed Feb 12, 2026, 0000851205-26-000012
Diluted earnings per share0.68 USD FiledFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 12, 2026, 0000851205-26-000012
Graham number11.61 USD ComputedFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 12, 2026, 0000851205-26-000012

We publish no fair value or price target of our own. Value CGNX on your own assumptions in the DCF workbench, starting from the filed figures.

Its own record, and companies like it

Valuation

What the market charges for Cognex Corporation today, and the multiples it has carried. No value of ours: the figures are the filings’ and the market’s.

Cognex Corporation: valuation
Share price55.67 USD
Market capitalisation9.37B USD
Enterprise value to EBITDA50.54x
Graham number11.61 USD
Diluted earnings per share, FY20250.68 USD

Price to earnings on trailing twelve months, a different basis from the fiscal-year P/E above, since Oct 3, 2016: low 24.83x, median 50.56x, high 93.99x, latest 57.70x. 2,521 trading days with a meaningful ratio. Each close over the trailing twelve months of earnings as known that day: a quarter counts from the day it was filed.

Companies like Cognex Corporation

  1. Novanta Inc. (NOVT)Market cap 5.10B USD
  2. Badger Meter, Inc. (BMI)Market cap 3.68B USD
  3. Littelfuse, Inc. (LFUS)Market cap 9.95B USD
  4. Sensata Technologies Holding plc (ST)Market cap 6.01B USD
  5. OSI Systems, Inc. (OSIS)Market cap 3.13B USD

Same industry (Hardware, Equipment & Parts) and size band (Mid, 2B to 10B), nearest in market value, net margin and current ratio. Each of those counts equally, by how many of the companies considered sit between the two on it. Closest first: the order is likeness and nothing else.

6 of 10

Cash generation

Whether profit arrives as cash, and what is paid back to shareholders.

SEC filingComputed

Cognex Corporation: cash generation and what is paid out, each with its source
FigureValue, source and document
Free cash flow yield2.5% ComputedClose of Oct 15, 2026 · FY2025 10-K, filed Feb 12, 2026, 0000851205-26-000012
Free cash flow236.8M USD ComputedFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 12, 2026, 0000851205-26-000012
Free cash flow margin23.8% ComputedFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 12, 2026, 0000851205-26-000012
Dividend yield0.6% ComputedClose of Oct 15, 2026 · FY2025 10-K, filed Feb 12, 2026, 0000851205-26-000012
Payout ratio47.7% ComputedFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 12, 2026, 0000851205-26-000012
FY2016 Free cash flow: 169.3M USDFY2016 Net income: 143.7M USDFY2017 Free cash flow: 195.6M USDFY2017 Net income: 176.7M USDFY2018 Free cash flow: 186.4M USDFY2018 Net income: 219.3M USDFY2019 Free cash flow: 231.6M USDFY2019 Net income: 203.9M USDFY2020 Free cash flow: 229.1M USDFY2020 Net income: 176.2M USDFY2021 Free cash flow: 298.6M USDFY2021 Net income: 279.9M USDFY2022 Free cash flow: 223.7M USDFY2022 Net income: 215.5M USDFY2023 Free cash flow: 89.8M USDFY2023 Net income: 113.2M USDFY2024 Free cash flow: 134.0M USDFY2024 Net income: 106.2M USDFY2025 Free cash flow: 236.8M USDFY2025 Net income: 114.4M USD
Free cash flow Net incomeProfit that arrives as cash stands level with net income; a gap year after year is worth reading about.

7 of 10

Filings

Every figure, the year it is for and the document it was read from.

SEC filingMarket data

The filed figures

Computed from the accounts this company filed with the SEC and, in a ratio with a price in it, the last close, dated on this page. Every filed figure below carries the fiscal year and the filing date its accounts were read from, and every blank carries the reason it is blank. Nothing here is a view on this company.

Cognex Corporation: the eight ratios, with the fiscal year and filing date behind each.
FigureValueYearAs of
81.87xFY2025Oct 15, 2026
6.32xFY2025Oct 15, 2026
56.85xFY2025Oct 15, 2026
2.5%FY2025Oct 15, 2026
7.8%FY2025Feb 12, 2026
0.6%FY2025Oct 15, 2026
0.05FY2025Feb 12, 2026
3.80FY2025Feb 12, 2026
9.48xFY2025Oct 15, 2026
n/aFY2025Oct 15, 2026
n/a This figure compares a year against the one before it, and we hold one filed year for this company.
12.13FY2025Oct 15, 2026
-2.54FY2025Feb 12, 2026
7/9FY2025Feb 12, 2026

The figures are computed from the accounts for fiscal 2025, the newest full year on file. 17 filed fiscal years on record, FY2008 to FY2025, from SEC EDGAR. Prices as of Oct 15, 2026. Ratios recomputed Oct 15, 2026. Two facts, because a recompute is not a fresh quote.

The year and the filing date name the statement each figure’s accounts are read from, and they stand even where the figure itself could not be computed: the line beneath a blank says what that statement did not carry. A figure’s name opens its formula and the filings behind it; a statement that names no SEC filing has no filing date, and reads n/a.

Ten years of filed figures, year by year

Ten years of filed figures

10 filed fiscal years, FY2016 to FY2025, read from the annual reports Cognex Corporation filed with the SEC. Each year names its filing. Amounts in USD, as filed.

Cognex Corporation: revenue, earnings, free cash flow and returns, by fiscal year, with the filing each year was read from
YearRevenueOperating incomeNet incomeEPS, dilutedFree cash flowOperating marginReturn on equityFiling
FY2025994.4M162.6M114.4M0.68236.8M16.4%7.7%10-K, Feb 12, 20260000851205-26-000012
FY2024914.5M115.1M106.2M0.62134.0M12.6%7.0%10-K, Feb 13, 20250000851205-25-000012
FY2023837.5M130.7M113.2M0.6589.8M15.6%7.5%10-K, Feb 15, 20240000851205-24-000027
FY20221.01B246.2M215.5M1.23223.7M24.5%15.0%10-K, Feb 16, 20230000851205-23-000004
FY20211.04B315.1M279.9M1.56298.6M30.4%19.6%10-K, Feb 17, 20220000851205-22-000008
FY2020811.0M170.5M176.2M1.00229.1M21.0%14.0%10-K, Feb 11, 20210000851205-21-000005
FY2019725.6M142.6M203.9M1.16231.6M19.6%15.0%10-K, Feb 13, 20200000851205-20-000002
FY2018806.3M221.1M219.3M1.24186.4M27.4%19.3%10-K, Feb 14, 20190000851205-19-000003
FY2017748.0M258.9M176.7M0.98195.6M34.6%16.1%10-K, Feb 15, 20180000851205-18-000004
FY2016520.8M154.1M143.7M0.83169.3M29.6%14.9%10-K, Feb 16, 20170000851205-17-000003
  • Revenue, compound annual growth FY2016 to FY2025: 7.5%
  • Earnings, compound annual growth FY2016 to FY2025: -2.5%
  • Earnings per share, compound annual growth FY2016 to FY2025: -2.2%
  • Free cash flow, compound annual growth FY2016 to FY2025: 3.8%

Every figure in this section is a line of a filed annual statement or a ratio of two of them. Nothing here is estimated or smoothed. Earnings per share filed before a share split are put on today's share count, and say so. Nothing here is a verdict on the company.

8 of 10

Risks and guardrails

The accounting screens, the published tests, and the lines you can set to be told.

ComputedCompany statement

Cognex Corporation: accounting screens and published tests, each with its source
FigureValue, source and document
Beneish M-score-2.54 ComputedFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 12, 2026, 0000851205-26-000012
Piotroski F-score7/9 ComputedFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 12, 2026, 0000851205-26-000012
Named tests met1 of 30 Computed
Beta1.10 ComputedClose of Oct 15, 2026

The named tests

Of 30 tests value investors published: 1 met, 28 not met, 1 we could not complete. Counts, never a score: a single figure would have to decide that meeting one investor’s criteria and meeting another’s are worth the same.

Which tests, by name(all 30)
Meets
Cash-covered dividend
Does not
Defensive investor (Benjamin Graham); Deep value; Large cap, low P/E; Earnings yield and ROIC (Joel Greenblatt); High F-score, low P/B (Joseph Piotroski); Three forensic scores; Low PEG, low debt (Peter Lynch); High returns and growth; Gross margin, turnover (Robert Novy-Marx); EV/EBITDA and coverage; High yield, low payout; Dividends and buybacks; Low beta, profitable; ROIC at or above WACC; Near the 52-week low; Two thirds of NCAV (Benjamin Graham); P/E times P/B (Benjamin Graham); High returns, low debt; Owner earnings yield; High return on tangibles; Low P/S, rising earnings (James O'Shaughnessy); Book or below, low debt (Walter Schloss); Tangible book or below; Cash-flow yield and ROIC; Clean books, high ROIC; Cheapest quarter on P/E (David Dreman); Cheapest quarter on P/B (David Dreman); Low P/E, growth, yield (John Neff)
Not measured
Z-score and coverage (Edward Altman). A test with a figure we could not read is incomplete, never met and never failed.
Figures we could not read(2)
  • PEG Ratio: We do not hold this figure for this company, so there is nothing to show.
  • Interest Coverage: No interest expense is filed for this year, so coverage is not computed.

9 of 10

Declared positions

Whether anybody here owns this company.

Positions declared by the founder: no holding in any company shown here, as of October 3, 2026.

10 of 10

Next step

What to do with what you have read.

A thesis is your reason for owning it, in your words, with the figures that must stay true. Checking those figures every night against the newest filed accounts, and telling you once when one breaks, is what the subscription adds.

More on this company

What this cannot tell you

  • 2 figures could not be read on this company: PEG Ratio, Interest Coverage. 1 named test comes back incomplete because of them, which is neither met nor missed.

And the one that is true of all of it: This is what the numbers say today. It cannot tell you the day one of them stops being true. Nothing here can, because the reasons are not written down.

Running this once is arithmetic on public documents and you are welcome to it. Writing down why you own each company, in your own words and with the numbers that have to stay true for it to hold, and then having those numbers re-checked every night against the newest filed accounts, and against the latest close where a rule watches a price, is Professional, the plan a new account starts on for 30 days, one trial per person. It writes to you the day one breaks, and stays quiet when nothing does. The check runs every night at 23:30 UTC. A filing is picked up the night after it is published.

No card. 30 free days, and nothing is charged unless you choose a plan.

Analyze your own portfolio

ValueScreener · valuescreener.ai · Computed from accounts filed with the SEC by this company, read from EDGAR, and from dated closing prices. On this page a filed figure opens into its formula, its inputs and the statement, fiscal year and filing date it was read from, and a price into the day of its close. A figure that cannot show that trail says so.

A computation on accounts filed with the SEC, not a recommendation and not advice. Past filings do not indicate future results. Risk disclaimer.

Once a week, what changed in the filings of US-listed companies, why it can matter to a thesis, and what deserves a closer review. Grounded in filings, not market noise.

Site map
  • Android app coming soon
  • iPhone app coming soon
ValueScreener

Discover companies, research each one to its filings, track what matters, and take your work into your own spreadsheet.

ValueScreener is a trading name of Oliva Real Estate Technologies LLC, a Delaware limited liability company. Legal notices: legal@valuescreener.ai. © 2026 Oliva Real Estate Technologies LLC. All rights reserved.

Risk disclaimer. This service is provided for research and education only. Nothing on it is investment advice, a recommendation, or an offer to buy or sell any security. Capital is at risk, and past performance does not indicate future results. Figures come from filed accounts and may be incomplete, delayed or later restated, so verify a number against the filing before you act on it.