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 $19.5B against $8.0B — 2.4× the size. Fortive Corporation trades at the lower P/E: 30.7× against 32.8×. Cognex Corporation grew revenue faster over the last twelve months: 15.8% against 6.98%. Cognex Corporation has the higher net margin (21.5% vs 14.8%) and the higher return on invested capital (17.2% vs 5.93%). Both pay a dividend; Cognex Corporation yields more (0.72% vs 0.38%). Across the 23 metrics below, Cognex Corporation leads on 15 and Fortive Corporation on 8.

Valuation

Metric CGNX FTV Scientific & Technical Instruments median
P/E 32.78 30.73 28.21
P/S 7.08 4.46 4.46
P/B 4.63 3.29 3.10
Price to free cash flow 28.22 18.06 24.15
EV/EBITDA 27.26 18.00 18.28
EV/Sales 6.46 5.38 4.64
Earnings yield 3.05% 3.25% 0.68%
Free cash flow yield 3.54% 5.54% 1.98%

Profitability

Metric CGNX FTV Scientific & Technical Instruments median
Gross margin 69.69% 63.47% 47.24%
Operating margin 25.01% 19.63% 8.96%
Net margin 21.50% 14.83% 1.92%
Free cash flow margin 26.01% 24.69% 10.59%
Return on equity 15.07% 10.46% 2.66%
Return on assets 11.31% 5.57% 1.12%
Return on invested capital 17.15% 5.93% 4.79%

Growth

Metric CGNX FTV Scientific & Technical Instruments median
Revenue growth (TTM) 15.82% 6.98% 9.26%
EPS growth (last fiscal year) 9.68% (26.69%) 13.24%
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 0.59 0.00
Current ratio 5.04 1.23 2.30
Net debt to EBITDA (1.75) 2.44 0.45

Dividend

Metric CGNX FTV Scientific & Technical Instruments median
Dividend yield 0.72% 0.38% 0.62%
Payout ratio 0.24 0.12 0.22

Size

Metric CGNX FTV Scientific & Technical Instruments median
Market cap 7.99b 19.47b 549.07m

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