Cognex Corporation (CGNX) vs ESCO Technologies Inc. (ESE)

Cognex Corporation and ESCO Technologies Inc. are both Scientific & Technical Instruments companies. Cognex Corporation is the larger, with a market value of $8.0B against $7.0B — 1.1× the size. ESCO Technologies Inc. trades at the lower P/E: 19.0× against 32.8×. ESCO Technologies Inc. grew revenue faster over the last twelve months: 34.3% against 15.8%. ESCO Technologies Inc. has the higher net margin (24.4% vs 21.5%) and the lower return on invested capital (7.76% vs 17.2%). Both pay a dividend; Cognex Corporation yields more (0.72% vs 0.14%). Across the 23 metrics below, ESCO Technologies Inc. leads on 13 and Cognex Corporation on 10.

Valuation

Metric CGNX ESE Scientific & Technical Instruments median
P/E 32.78 18.99 28.21
P/S 7.08 4.63 4.46
P/B 4.63 3.69 3.10
Price to free cash flow 28.22 30.38 24.15
EV/EBITDA 27.26 19.38 18.28
EV/Sales 6.46 4.64 4.64
Earnings yield 3.05% 5.27% 0.68%
Free cash flow yield 3.54% 3.29% 1.98%

Profitability

Metric CGNX ESE Scientific & Technical Instruments median
Gross margin 69.69% 42.01% 47.24%
Operating margin 25.01% 15.66% 8.96%
Net margin 21.50% 24.39% 1.92%
Free cash flow margin 26.01% 15.23% 10.59%
Return on equity 15.07% 21.39% 2.66%
Return on assets 11.31% 12.73% 1.12%
Return on invested capital 17.15% 7.76% 4.79%

Growth

Metric CGNX ESE Scientific & Technical Instruments median
Revenue growth (TTM) 15.82% 34.33% 9.26%
EPS growth (last fiscal year) 9.68% 193.15% 13.24%
Revenue growth, 5-year CAGR 4.16% 8.44% 7.89%
Net income growth, 5-year CAGR (8.27%) 24.66% 0.00%

Health

Metric CGNX ESE Scientific & Technical Instruments median
Debt to equity 0.00 0.05 0.00
Current ratio 5.04 1.38 2.30
Net debt to EBITDA (1.75) 0.34 0.45

Dividend

Metric CGNX ESE Scientific & Technical Instruments median
Dividend yield 0.72% 0.14% 0.62%
Payout ratio 0.24 0.03 0.22

Size

Metric CGNX ESE Scientific & Technical Instruments median
Market cap 7.99b 7.00b 549.07m

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