CGNX vs. MKSI, ST, MLAB, HURC, KEYS, FTV, BWXT, DSGX, UI, and BZ
Should you be buying Cognex stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Cognex include MKS Instruments (MKSI), Sensata Technologies (ST), Mesa Laboratories (MLAB), Hurco Companies (HURC), Keysight Technologies (KEYS), Fortive (FTV), BWX Technologies (BWXT), The Descartes Systems Group (DSGX), Ubiquiti (UI), and Kanzhun (BZ).
Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) and MKS Instruments (NASDAQ:MKSI) are both mid-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, media sentiment, institutional ownership, community ranking, risk, valuation, dividends, earnings and analyst recommendations.
Cognex pays an annual dividend of $0.30 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.6%. MKS Instruments pays an annual dividend of $0.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. Cognex pays out 51.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. MKS Instruments pays out -3.3% 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. MKS Instruments is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.
88.1% of Cognex shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 99.8% of MKS Instruments shares are held by institutional investors. 1.1% of Cognex shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of MKS Instruments shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
Cognex has higher earnings, but lower revenue 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.
Cognex currently has a consensus target price of $49.15, indicating a potential upside of 2.72%. MKS Instruments has a consensus target price of $136.75, indicating a potential upside of 6.63%. Given MKS Instruments' stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe MKS Instruments is more favorable than Cognex.
Cognex has a net margin of 11.76% compared to MKS Instruments' net margin of -48.24%. MKS Instruments' return on equity of 13.90% beat Cognex's return on equity.
MKS Instruments received 19 more outperform votes than Cognex when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 71.70% of users gave MKS Instruments an outperform vote while only 60.57% of users gave Cognex an outperform vote.
In the previous week, MKS Instruments had 15 more articles in the media than Cognex. MarketBeat recorded 18 mentions for MKS Instruments and 3 mentions for Cognex. Cognex's average media sentiment score of 1.70 beat MKS Instruments' score of 0.61 indicating that Cognex is being referred to more favorably in the media.
Cognex has a beta of 1.48, indicating that its share price is 48% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, MKS Instruments has a beta of 1.69, indicating that its share price is 69% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Summary
MKS Instruments beats Cognex on 11 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.
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This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding CGNX and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
This chart shows the average media sentiment of NASDAQ and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
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