Cognex (CGNX) Competitors

MKS Instruments (NASDAQ:MKSI) and Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) are both mid-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, media sentiment, profitability, community ranking, valuation, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings and risk.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer MKSI or CGNX?

MKS Instruments received 21 more outperform votes than Cognex when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 71.62% of users gave MKS Instruments an outperform vote while only 60.60% of users gave Cognex an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
MKS Instruments	Outperform Votes 530 71.62%	Underperform Votes 210 28.38%
Cognex	Outperform Votes 509 60.60%	Underperform Votes 331 39.40%

Do analysts recommend MKSI or CGNX?

MKS Instruments presently has a consensus target price of $128.75, suggesting a potential upside of 6.63%. Cognex has a consensus target price of $47.70, suggesting a potential upside of 17.46%. Given MKS Instruments' higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Cognex is more favorable than MKS Instruments.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
MKS Instruments	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.75
Cognex	2 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.33

Which has preferable valuation and earnings, MKSI or CGNX?

Cognex has lower revenue, but higher earnings than MKS Instruments. MKS Instruments is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Cognex, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
MKS Instruments	$3.62B	2.24	-$1.84B	-$27.55	-4.38
Cognex	$837.55M	8.32	$113.23M	$0.66	61.53

Which has more risk and volatility, MKSI or CGNX?

MKS Instruments has a beta of 1.67, suggesting that its share price is 67% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cognex has a beta of 1.49, suggesting that its share price is 49% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media refer more to MKSI or CGNX?

In the previous week, Cognex had 3 more articles in the media than MKS Instruments. MarketBeat recorded 4 mentions for Cognex and 1 mentions for MKS Instruments. Cognex's average media sentiment score of 1.79 beat MKS Instruments' score of 0.76 indicating that MKS Instruments is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
MKS Instruments	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive
Cognex	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is MKSI or CGNX more profitable?

Cognex has a net margin of 13.52% compared to Cognex's net margin of -50.80%. Cognex's return on equity of 9.95% beat MKS Instruments' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
MKS Instruments	-50.80%	9.95%	3.05%
Cognex	13.52%	6.86%	5.09%

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of MKSI or CGNX?

99.8% of MKS Instruments shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 88.1% of Cognex shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.5% of MKS Instruments shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.1% of Cognex shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Is MKSI or CGNX a better dividend stock?

MKS Instruments pays an annual dividend of $0.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. Cognex pays an annual dividend of $0.30 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. MKS Instruments pays out -3.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Cognex pays out 45.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Cognex has raised its dividend for 9 consecutive years. Cognex is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Summary

Cognex beats MKS Instruments on 13 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.