Cognex Corporation (CGNX) vs Coherent Corp. (COHR)

Cognex Corporation and Coherent Corp. are both Scientific & Technical Instruments companies. Coherent Corp. is the larger, with a market value of $33.4B against $8.0B — 4.2× the size. Cognex Corporation trades at the lower P/E: 32.8× against 38.3×. Coherent Corp. grew revenue faster over the last twelve months: 30.8% against 15.8%. Cognex Corporation has the higher net margin (21.5% vs 12.2%) and the higher return on invested capital (17.2% vs 4.79%). Across the 21 metrics below, Cognex Corporation leads on 13 and Coherent Corp. on 8.

Valuation

Metric CGNX COHR Scientific & Technical Instruments median
P/E 32.78 38.25 28.21
P/S 7.08 4.80 4.46
P/B 4.63 3.25 3.10
Price to free cash flow 28.22 n/m 24.15
EV/EBITDA 27.26 24.78 18.28
EV/Sales 6.46 5.08 4.64
Earnings yield 3.05% 2.61% 0.68%
Free cash flow yield 3.54% (4.86%) 1.98%

Profitability

Metric CGNX COHR Scientific & Technical Instruments median
Gross margin 69.69% 38.16% 47.24%
Operating margin 25.01% 13.44% 8.96%
Net margin 21.50% 12.16% 1.92%
Free cash flow margin 26.01% (23.31%) 10.59%
Return on equity 15.07% 10.78% 2.66%
Return on assets 11.31% 5.50% 1.12%
Return on invested capital 17.15% 4.79% 4.79%

Growth

Metric CGNX COHR Scientific & Technical Instruments median
Revenue growth (TTM) 15.82% 30.84% 9.26%
EPS growth (last fiscal year) 9.68% 892.31% 13.24%
Revenue growth, 5-year CAGR 4.16% 18.04% 7.89%
Net income growth, 5-year CAGR (8.27%) 24.22% 0.00%

Health

Metric CGNX COHR Scientific & Technical Instruments median
Debt to equity 0.00 0.34 0.00
Current ratio 5.04 2.29 2.30
Net debt to EBITDA (1.75) 0.87 0.45

Dividend

Metric CGNX COHR Scientific & Technical Instruments median
Dividend yield 0.72% — 0.62%
Payout ratio 0.24 — 0.22

Size

Metric CGNX COHR Scientific & Technical Instruments median
Market cap 7.99b 33.43b 549.07m

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