Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) Earns “Neutral” Rating from DA Davidson

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX)‘s stock had its “neutral” rating reaffirmed by analysts at DA Davidson in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $65.00 target price on the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock. DA Davidson’s target price suggests a potential upside of 12.44% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Cognex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, September 13th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Cognex from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Cognex from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $65.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 price target on shares of Cognex in a research report on Tuesday, September 15th. Finally, UBS Group set a $75.00 price objective on Cognex in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cognex currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $75.50.

Cognex Stock Performance

CGNX stock opened at $57.81 on Wednesday. Cognex has a one year low of $34.60 and a one year high of $72.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.56 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $62.50 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $60.33.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.03. Cognex had a return on equity of 13.50% and a net margin of 16.05%.The firm had revenue of $291.26 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $292.10 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.25 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Cognex has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.640-1.680 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.500-0.540 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Cognex will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Cognex

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Cognex during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,158,123,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Cognex by 27.1% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,950,299 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $142,154,000 after purchasing an additional 842,783 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in shares of Cognex by 81.0% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,660,411 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $130,320,000 after purchasing an additional 1,190,434 shares in the last quarter. Jupiter Topco LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cognex in the 2nd quarter valued at about $161,425,000. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in Cognex by 115.6% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,033,091 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $99,601,000 after purchasing an additional 1,090,092 shares in the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cognex News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Cognex this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Cognex agreed to acquire RealSense for approximately $500 million. RealSense’s 3D robotic-perception technology could expand Cognex’s addressable market beyond traditional machine vision and support longer-term growth in automation and robotics. Cognex to Acquire RealSense, Expanding Machine Vision Leadership into High-Growth Robotic Perception Market
• Positive Sentiment: Needham initiated Cognex at Buy with an $80 price target, citing the RealSense acquisition and the company’s expanding opportunity in robotic perception. This target implies meaningful upside and supports the view that the deal could accelerate growth. Cognex Initiated at Buy on RealSense Acquisition and Expanding Robotic Perception Growth Opportunity
• Neutral Sentiment: D.A. Davidson maintained a Hold rating and its $65 price target, viewing the RealSense transaction as fairly valued. The unchanged target indicates limited near-term valuation re-rating despite the strategic benefits. Cognex Maintained at Hold as RealSense Deal Seen Fairly Valued
• Negative Sentiment: Robert W. Baird lowered its Cognex price target from $78 to $70 and assigned a Neutral rating. The reduction suggests more cautious expectations for the acquisition’s financial contribution and highlights valuation concerns for a stock trading at a relatively high earnings multiple. Baird Lowers Cognex Price Target

Cognex Company Profile

Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ: CGNX) develops machine vision technologies that help businesses automate inspection, identification, measurement and guidance tasks. Its systems enable manufacturing and logistics operations to analyze images and make decisions about products, components and packages.

The company’s product portfolio includes industrial cameras, vision sensors, barcode readers, three-dimensional vision systems and machine vision software. Cognex also offers artificial intelligence and deep-learning tools designed to address complex inspection and classification applications, along with engineering, implementation and support services.

Founded in 1981 by Robert J.