Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) Sets New 52-Week High After Strong Earnings

Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high on Thursday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The company traded as high as $54.42 and last traded at $58.62, with a volume of 91908 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $43.03.

The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $252.34 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $238.92 million. Cognex had a net margin of 11.51% and a return on equity of 9.02%. Cognex’s revenue was up 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.16 earnings per share.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 26th will be paid a dividend of $0.085 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 26th. This represents a $0.34 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 53.13%.

Key Stories Impacting Cognex

Here are the key news stories impacting Cognex this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 earnings beat and revenue growth — Cognex reported $0.27 EPS vs. $0.22 expected and revenue of $252.3M (up ~10% YoY); the stronger-than-expected results and margin improvement were the primary upward catalyst. Earnings Beat
• Positive Sentiment: Raised Q1 guidance — management gave Q1 EPS and revenue guidance above Street estimates (EPS guide 0.220–0.260 vs. consensus ~0.200), supporting the outlook for continued recovery. Guidance & Call
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst upgrade / price target lift — Needham raised its target from $47 to $67 and kept a Buy rating, reinforcing the bullish narrative and adding buy-side momentum. Analyst Raise
• Positive Sentiment: Dividend and shareholder-friendly actions mentioned on the call — Cognex declared a quarterly dividend and discussed portfolio optimization and buyback/dividend moves that support shareholder returns. Dividend & Call Highlights
• Neutral Sentiment: Positive press and commentary — multiple outlets (Seeking Alpha, Motley Fool, Benzinga) published bullish takes on the turnaround and long-term returns; useful for sentiment but reiterative. Feature Article
• Neutral Sentiment: Short interest reporting shows no meaningful short positions in the available data (entries report zero/NaN), so short-squeeze pressure appears unlikely based on current figures.
• Negative Sentiment: Large insider sales — Director Robert Willett sold ~177k shares (~$10.3M) and VP Laura Macdonald sold ~14.9k shares (~$850k). Big insider dispositions can temper sentiment even after strong results. Insider Filings
• Negative Sentiment: Emerging AI regulation risk — Cognex added a regulatory risk disclosure related to rising AI rules that could increase compliance costs and pressure margins over time. AI Regulation Risk

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on CGNX shares. Robert W. Baird set a $45.00 price objective on Cognex in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $63.00 price target on shares of Cognex in a report on Friday. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Cognex in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Raymond James Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Cognex in a research report on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $35.00 target price (down from $45.00) on shares of Cognex in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $50.73.

Insider Activity at Cognex

In related news, VP Laura Ann Macdonald sold 14,881 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.16, for a total transaction of $850,597.96. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 2,212 shares in the company, valued at $126,437.92. This represents a 87.06% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Robert Willett sold 177,052 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.39, for a total value of $10,338,066.28. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 1.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cognex

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Quent Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cognex during the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. REAP Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Cognex in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in Cognex by 402.2% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 919 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 736 shares during the last quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Cognex during the 2nd quarter worth $29,000. Finally, TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. bought a new position in Cognex in the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. Institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Trading Up 0.2%

The company has a market capitalization of $9.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 87.75 and a beta of 1.53. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $39.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.48.

Cognex Company Profile

Cognex Corporation is a leading provider of machine vision systems, software, sensors and industrial barcode readers used to automate manufacturing, logistics and distribution processes. The company designs and develops vision-based products that help manufacturers and logistics operators inspect, identify and guide parts, assemblies and packaged goods in real time. Its solutions are applied in a broad range of industries, including automotive, electronics, semiconductor, pharmaceutical, food and beverage, and general manufacturing.

The company’s product portfolio includes stand-alone vision systems, vision sensors and deep learning-based software platforms that enable automated inspection, quality control and traceability.