How to buy Cognex Corporation stock

Cognex Corporation is a scientific & technical instruments business based in the US. Cognex Corporation shares (CGNX) are listed on the NASDAQ and all prices are listed in US Dollars. Cognex Corporation employs 2,267 staff and has a trailing 12-month revenue of around USD$689.4 million.

How to buy shares in Cognex Corporation

1. Compare share trading platforms. If you're a beginner, look for a platform with low commissions, expert ratings and investment tools to track your portfolio. Narrow down top brands with our comparison table.
2. Open and fund your brokerage account. Complete an application with your personal and financial details, like your ID and bank information. Fund your account with a bank transfer, credit card or debit card.
3. Search for Cognex Corporation. Find the stock by name or ticker symbol: CGNX. Research its history to confirm it's a solid investment against your financial goals.
4. Purchase now or later. Buy today with a market order or use a limit order to delay your purchase until Cognex Corporation reaches your desired price. To spread out your purchase, look into dollar-cost averaging, which smooths out buying at consistent intervals and amounts.
5. Decide on how many to buy. Weigh your budget against a diversified portfolio that can minimize risk through the market's ups and downs. You may be able to buy a fractional share of Cognex Corporation, depending on your broker.
6. Check in on your investment. Congratulations, you own a part of Cognex Corporation. Optimize your portfolio by tracking how your stock — and even the business — performs with an eye on the long term. You may be eligible for dividends and shareholder voting rights on directors and management that can affect your stock.

Cognex Corporation share price

Use our graph to track the performance of CGNX stocks over time.

Cognex Corporation shares at a glance

• Key figures

Information last updated 2020-10-20.

52-week range	USD$35.2 - USD$71.76
50-day moving average	USD$65.2946
200-day moving average	USD$60.5361
Wall St. target price	USD$58.73
PE ratio	86.1
Dividend yield	USD$0.22 (0.32%)
Earnings per share (TTM)	USD$0.8

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Is it a good time to buy Cognex Corporation stock?

The technical analysis gauge below displays real-time ratings for the timeframes you select. This is not a recommendation, however. It represents a technical analysis based on the most popular technical indicators: Moving Averages, Oscillators and Pivots. Finder might not concur and takes no responsibility.

Technical Analysis of Cognex Corporation by TradingView

This chart is not advice or a guarantee of success. Rather, it gauges the real-time recommendations of three popular technical indicators: moving averages, oscillators and pivots. Finder is not responsible for how your stock performs.

Is Cognex Corporation under- or over-valued?

Valuing Cognex Corporation stock is incredibly difficult, and any metric has to be viewed as part of a bigger picture of Cognex Corporation's overall performance. However, analysts commonly use some key metrics to help gauge the value of a stock.

Cognex Corporation's P/E ratio

Cognex Corporation's current share price divided by its per-share earnings (EPS) over a 12-month period gives a "trailing price/earnings ratio" of roughly 86x. In other words, Cognex Corporation shares trade at around 86x recent earnings.

That's relatively high compared to, say, the trailing 12-month P/E ratio for the NASDAQ 100 at the end of 2019 (27.29). The high P/E ratio could mean that investors are optimistic about the outlook for the shares or simply that they're over-valued.

Cognex Corporation's PEG ratio

Cognex Corporation's "price/earnings-to-growth ratio" can be calculated by dividing its P/E ratio by its growth – to give 2.04. A low ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer better value, while a higher ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer worse value.

The PEG ratio provides a broader view than just the P/E ratio, as it gives more insight into Cognex Corporation's future profitability. By accounting for growth, it could also help you if you're comparing the share prices of multiple high-growth companies.

Cognex Corporation's EBITDA

Cognex Corporation's EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) is USD$136.4 million.

The EBITDA is a measure of a Cognex Corporation's overall financial performance and is widely used to measure a its profitability.

Cognex Corporation financials

Revenue TTM	USD$689.4 million
Operating margin TTM	15.94%
Gross profit TTM	USD$535.9 million
Return on assets TTM	4.18%
Return on equity TTM	11.01%
Profit margin	20.5%
Book value	$7.954
Market capitalisation	USD$11.8 billion

TTM: trailing 12 months

Shorting Cognex Corporation shares

There are currently 4.4 million Cognex Corporation shares held short by investors – that's known as Cognex Corporation's "short interest". This figure is 6.1% down from 4.7 million last month.

There are a few different ways that this level of interest in shorting Cognex Corporation shares can be evaluated.

Cognex Corporation's "short interest ratio" (SIR)

Cognex Corporation's "short interest ratio" (SIR) is the quantity of Cognex Corporation shares currently shorted divided by the average quantity of Cognex Corporation shares traded daily (recently around 818851.57116451). Cognex Corporation's SIR currently stands at 5.41. In other words for every 100,000 Cognex Corporation shares traded daily on the market, roughly 5410 shares are currently held short.

However Cognex Corporation's short interest can also be evaluated against the total number of Cognex Corporation shares, or, against the total number of tradable Cognex Corporation shares (the shares that aren't held by "insiders" or major long-term shareholders – also known as the "float"). In this case Cognex Corporation's short interest could be expressed as 0.03% of the outstanding shares (for every 100,000 Cognex Corporation shares in existence, roughly 30 shares are currently held short) or 0.0268% of the tradable shares (for every 100,000 tradable Cognex Corporation shares, roughly 27 shares are currently held short).

A SIR below 10% would generally be considered to indicate a fairly optimistic outlook for the share price, with fewer people currently willing to bet against Cognex Corporation.

Find out more about how you can short Cognex Corporation stock.

Cognex Corporation share dividends

Dividend payout ratio: 33.85% of net profits

Recently Cognex Corporation has paid out, on average, around 33.85% of net profits as dividends. That has enabled analysts to estimate a "forward annual dividend yield" of 0.32% of the current stock value. This means that over a year, based on recent payouts (which are sadly no guarantee of future payouts), Cognex Corporation shareholders could enjoy a 0.32% return on their shares, in the form of dividend payments. In Cognex Corporation's case, that would currently equate to about $0.22 per share.

While Cognex Corporation's payout ratio might seem fairly standard, it's worth remembering that Cognex Corporation may be investing much of the rest of its net profits in future growth.

Cognex Corporation's most recent dividend payout was on 28 August 2020. The latest dividend was paid out to all shareholders who bought their shares by 13 August 2020 (the "ex-dividend date").

Have Cognex Corporation's shares ever split?

Cognex Corporation's shares were split on a 2:1 basis on 4 December 2017. So if you had owned 1 share the day before before the split, the next day you'd have owned 2 shares. This wouldn't directly have changed the overall worth of your Cognex Corporation shares – just the quantity. However, indirectly, the new 50% lower share price could have impacted the market appetite for Cognex Corporation shares which in turn could have impacted Cognex Corporation's share price.

Cognex Corporation share price volatility

Over the last 12 months, Cognex Corporation's shares have ranged in value from as little as $35.2 up to $71.76. A popular way to gauge a stock's volatility is its "beta".

Beta is a measure of a share's volatility in relation to the market. The market (NASDAQ average) beta is 1, while Cognex Corporation's is 1.6696. This would suggest that Cognex Corporation's shares are more volatile than the average for this exchange and represent, relatively-speaking, a higher risk (but potentially also market-beating returns).

Cognex Corporation overview

Cognex Corporation provides machine vision products that capture and analyze visual information in order to automate manufacturing and distribution tasks worldwide. Its machine vision products are used to automate the manufacture and tracking of discrete items, including mobile phones, aspirin bottles, and automobile tires by locating, identifying, inspecting, and measuring them during the manufacturing or distribution process. The company offers VisionPro software, a suite of patented vision tools for advanced programming; Cognex Designer that allows customers to build vision applications with a graphical, flowchart-based programming environment; and Cognex deep learning vision software. It also provides general-purpose vision systems for vision tasks, including part location, identification, measurement, assembly verification, and robotic guidance; and vision sensors for vision applications, such as checking the presence and size of parts; the In-Sight product line of vision systems and sensors. In addition, the company offers ID products comprising DataMan image-based barcode readers and barcode verifiers, as well as vision-enabled mobile terminals for industrial barcode reading applications. It sells its products to consumer electronics, automotive, consumer products, food and beverage, pharmaceuticals, and medical devices industries, as well as through a network of distributors and integrators. The company was founded in 1981 and is headquartered in Natick, Massachusetts.

Frequently asked questions

• What percentage of Cognex Corporation is owned by insiders or institutions?

  Currently 4.415% of Cognex Corporation shares are held by insiders and 94.68% by institutions.

• How many people work for Cognex Corporation?

  Latest data suggests 2,267 work at Cognex Corporation.

• When does the fiscal year end for Cognex Corporation?

  Cognex Corporation's fiscal year ends in December.

• Where is Cognex Corporation based?

  Cognex Corporation's address is: One Vision Drive, Natick, MA, United States, 01760-2059

• What is Cognex Corporation's ISIN number?

  Cognex Corporation's international securities identification number is: US1924221039

• What is Cognex Corporation's CUSIP number?

  Cognex Corporation's Committee on Uniform Securities Identification Procedures number is: 192422103