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 $17.5B against $9.4B — 1.9× the size. Fortive Corporation trades at the lower P/E: 33.6× against 51.5×. 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 (0.63% vs 0.43%). 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 51.53 33.60 33.25
P/S 8.32 4.07 4.50
P/B 5.56 2.90 2.90
Price to free cash flow 34.23 18.75 24.81
EV/EBITDA 32.44 17.51 17.92
EV/Sales 7.94 5.01 4.71
Earnings yield 1.94% 2.98% 0.60%
Free cash flow yield 2.92% 5.33% 1.27%

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% 11.15%
EPS growth (last fiscal year) 9.68% (26.69%) 11.47%
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 0.63% 0.43% 0.58%
Payout ratio 0.33 0.15 0.36

Size

Metric CGNX FTV Scientific & Technical Instruments median
Market cap 9.37b 17.45b 444.25m

Compare with another peer

Any metric, up to five companies and an Excel export Powerpack