Cognex Corporation (CGNX) vs Sensata Technologies Holding N.V. (ST)

Cognex Corporation and Sensata Technologies Holding N.V. are both Scientific & Technical Instruments companies. Cognex Corporation is the larger, with a market value of $9.8B against $6.0B — 1.6× the size. Cognex Corporation trades at the lower P/E: 55.9× against 69.2×. Cognex Corporation grew revenue faster over the last twelve months: 17.2% against 0.80%. Cognex Corporation has the higher net margin (16.1% vs 2.38%) and the higher return on invested capital (12.2% vs 3.55%). Both pay a dividend; Sensata Technologies Holding N.V. yields more (1.46% vs 0.82%). Across the 23 metrics below, Cognex Corporation leads on 16 and Sensata Technologies Holding N.V. on 7.

Valuation

Metric CGNX ST Scientific & Technical Instruments median
P/E 55.87 69.16 35.93
P/S 9.01 1.63 4.46
P/B 6.02 2.07 3.00
Price to free cash flow 37.11 10.60 24.96
EV/EBITDA 35.29 10.85 19.60
EV/Sales 8.64 2.17 4.98
Earnings yield 1.79% 1.45% 0.53%
Free cash flow yield 2.69% 9.44% 1.12%

Profitability

Metric CGNX ST Scientific & Technical Instruments median
Gross margin 68.87% 29.50% 45.75%
Operating margin 21.90% 7.53% 7.34%
Net margin 16.05% 2.38% 1.56%
Free cash flow margin 25.25% 15.34% 5.84%
Return on equity 11.15% 3.08% 2.87%
Return on assets 8.36% 1.30% 0.99%
Return on invested capital 12.16% 3.55% 3.88%

Growth

Metric CGNX ST Scientific & Technical Instruments median
Revenue growth (TTM) 17.15% 0.80% 11.28%
EPS growth (last fiscal year) 9.68% (75.29%) —
Revenue growth, 5-year CAGR 4.16% 3.99% 7.89%
Net income growth, 5-year CAGR (8.27%) (28.22%) 0.00%

Health

Metric CGNX ST Scientific & Technical Instruments median
Debt to equity 0.00 0.83 0.00
Current ratio 3.93 2.29 2.24
Net debt to EBITDA (1.75) 3.14 0.44

Dividend

Metric CGNX ST Scientific & Technical Instruments median
Dividend yield 0.82% 1.46% 0.72%
Payout ratio 0.28 0.18 0.00

Size

Metric CGNX ST Scientific & Technical Instruments median
Market cap 9.82b 5.98b 483.67m

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