Cognex Corporation (CGNX) vs Fortive Corporation (FTV)

Cognex Corporation and Fortive Corporation are both Scientific & Technical Instruments companies. Fortive Corporation is the larger, with a market value of $16.7B against $9.8B — 1.7× the size. Fortive Corporation trades at the lower P/E: 32.6× against 55.9×. Fortive Corporation grew revenue faster over the last twelve months: 43.2% against 17.2%. Cognex Corporation has the higher net margin (16.1% vs 12.4%) and the higher return on invested capital (12.2% vs 5.34%). Both pay a dividend; Cognex Corporation yields more (0.82% vs 0.38%). Across the 23 metrics below, Cognex Corporation leads on 14 and Fortive Corporation on 9.

Valuation

Metric CGNX FTV Scientific & Technical Instruments median
P/E 55.87 32.61 35.93
P/S 9.01 3.95 4.46
P/B 6.02 2.81 3.00
Price to free cash flow 37.11 18.20 24.96
EV/EBITDA 35.29 17.09 19.60
EV/Sales 8.64 4.89 4.98
Earnings yield 1.79% 3.07% 0.53%
Free cash flow yield 2.69% 5.50% 1.12%

Profitability

Metric CGNX FTV Scientific & Technical Instruments median
Gross margin 68.87% 63.23% 45.75%
Operating margin 21.90% 18.23% 7.34%
Net margin 16.05% 12.38% 1.56%
Free cash flow margin 25.25% 21.72% 5.84%
Return on equity 11.15% 6.49% 2.87%
Return on assets 8.36% 3.58% 0.99%
Return on invested capital 12.16% 5.34% 3.88%

Growth

Metric CGNX FTV Scientific & Technical Instruments median
Revenue growth (TTM) 17.15% 43.22% 11.28%
EPS growth (last fiscal year) 9.68% (26.69%) —
Revenue growth, 5-year CAGR 4.16% (2.14%) 7.89%
Net income growth, 5-year CAGR (8.27%) (17.81%) 0.00%

Health

Metric CGNX FTV Scientific & Technical Instruments median
Debt to equity 0.00 0.58 0.00
Current ratio 3.93 1.24 2.24
Net debt to EBITDA (1.75) 2.44 0.44

Dividend

Metric CGNX FTV Scientific & Technical Instruments median
Dividend yield 0.82% 0.38% 0.72%
Payout ratio 0.28 0.13 0.00

Size

Metric CGNX FTV Scientific & Technical Instruments median
Market cap 9.82b 16.74b 483.67m

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