Cognex Corporation (CGNX) vs Itron, Inc. (ITRI)

Cognex Corporation and Itron, Inc. are both Scientific & Technical Instruments companies. Cognex Corporation is the larger, with a market value of $8.0B against $4.4B — 1.8× the size. Itron, Inc. trades at the lower P/E: 15.6× against 32.8×. Cognex Corporation grew revenue faster over the last twelve months: 15.8% against −3.63%. Cognex Corporation has the higher net margin (21.5% vs 12.1%) and the higher return on invested capital (17.2% vs 8.09%). Across the 22 metrics below, Cognex Corporation leads on 11 and Itron, Inc. on 11.

Valuation

Metric CGNX ITRI Scientific & Technical Instruments median
P/E 32.78 15.61 28.21
P/S 7.08 1.85 4.46
P/B 4.63 2.50 3.10
Price to free cash flow 28.22 11.70 24.15
EV/EBITDA 27.26 13.95 18.28
EV/Sales 6.46 2.37 4.64
Earnings yield 3.05% 6.40% 0.68%
Free cash flow yield 3.54% 8.55% 1.98%

Profitability

Metric CGNX ITRI Scientific & Technical Instruments median
Gross margin 69.69% 40.66% 47.24%
Operating margin 25.01% 13.69% 8.96%
Net margin 21.50% 12.05% 1.92%
Free cash flow margin 26.01% 15.84% 10.59%
Return on equity 15.07% 16.30% 2.66%
Return on assets 11.31% 7.15% 1.12%
Return on invested capital 17.15% 8.09% 4.79%

Growth

Metric CGNX ITRI Scientific & Technical Instruments median
Revenue growth (TTM) 15.82% (3.63%) 9.26%
EPS growth (last fiscal year) 9.68% 25.48% 13.24%
Revenue growth, 5-year CAGR 4.16% 1.72% 7.89%
Net income growth, 5-year CAGR (8.27%) 0.00% 0.00%

Health

Metric CGNX ITRI Scientific & Technical Instruments median
Debt to equity 0.00 0.92 0.00
Current ratio 5.04 2.83 2.30
Net debt to EBITDA (1.75) 0.62 0.45

Dividend

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

Size

Metric CGNX ITRI Scientific & Technical Instruments median
Market cap 7.99b 4.36b 549.07m

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