Badger Meter, Inc. (BMI) vs Cognex Corporation (CGNX)

Badger Meter, Inc. and Cognex Corporation are both Scientific & Technical Instruments companies. Cognex Corporation is the larger, with a market value of $9.4B against $3.7B — 2.5× the size. Badger Meter, Inc. trades at the lower P/E: 29.6× against 51.5×. Cognex Corporation grew revenue faster over the last twelve months: 17.2% against 0.80%. Cognex Corporation has the higher net margin (16.1% vs 14.3%) and the lower return on invested capital (12.2% vs 17.4%). Both pay a dividend; Badger Meter, Inc. yields more (1.29% vs 0.63%). Across the 22 metrics below, Badger Meter, Inc. leads on 15 and Cognex Corporation on 7.

Valuation

Metric BMI CGNX Scientific & Technical Instruments median
P/E 29.62 51.53 33.25
P/S 4.19 8.32 4.50
P/B 5.40 5.56 2.90
Price to free cash flow 24.55 34.23 24.81
EV/EBITDA 17.96 32.44 17.92
EV/Sales 4.08 7.94 4.71
Earnings yield 3.38% 1.94% 0.60%
Free cash flow yield 4.07% 2.92% 1.27%

Profitability

Metric BMI CGNX Scientific & Technical Instruments median
Gross margin 41.31% 68.87% 45.75%
Operating margin 18.58% 21.90% 7.34%
Net margin 14.27% 16.05% 1.56%
Free cash flow margin 17.06% 25.25% 5.84%
Return on equity 18.48% 11.15% 2.87%
Return on assets 13.00% 8.36% 0.99%
Return on invested capital 17.42% 12.16% 3.88%

Growth

Metric BMI CGNX Scientific & Technical Instruments median
Revenue growth (TTM) 0.80% 17.15% 11.15%
EPS growth (last fiscal year) 13.24% 9.68% 11.47%
Revenue growth, 5-year CAGR 16.59% 4.16% 7.89%
Net income growth, 5-year CAGR 23.48% (8.27%) 0.00%

Health

Metric BMI CGNX Scientific & Technical Instruments median
Debt to equity 0.00 0.00 0.00
Current ratio 2.42 3.93 2.24
Net debt to EBITDA (1.04) (1.75) 0.44

Dividend

Metric BMI CGNX Scientific & Technical Instruments median
Dividend yield 1.29% 0.63% 0.58%
Payout ratio 0.38 0.33 0.36

Size

Metric BMI CGNX Scientific & Technical Instruments median
Market cap 3.68b 9.37b 444.25m

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