MKSI vs. CGNX, ST, IPGP, MLAB, HURC, IEX, KEYS, FTV, OTEX, and FN
Should you be buying MKS Instruments stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of MKS Instruments include Cognex (CGNX), Sensata Technologies (ST), IPG Photonics (IPGP), Mesa Laboratories (MLAB), Hurco Companies (HURC), IDEX (IEX), Keysight Technologies (KEYS), Fortive (FTV), Open Text (OTEX), and Fabrinet (FN).
Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) and MKS Instruments (NASDAQ:MKSI) are both mid-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations, media sentiment, dividends, profitability and community ranking.
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 presently has a consensus target price of $49.15, suggesting a potential upside of 2.72%. MKS Instruments has a consensus target price of $136.75, suggesting a potential upside of 6.63%. Given Cognex's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe MKS Instruments is more favorable than Cognex.
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. Cognex has raised its dividend for 9 consecutive years. MKS Instruments is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.
Cognex has a net margin of 11.76% compared to Cognex's net margin of -48.24%. Cognex's return on equity of 13.90% beat MKS Instruments' 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.
Cognex has a beta of 1.48, suggesting that its share price is 48% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, MKS Instruments has a beta of 1.69, suggesting that its share price is 69% more volatile than the S&P 500.
88.1% of Cognex shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 99.8% of MKS Instruments shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.1% of Cognex shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of MKS Instruments shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
In the previous week, MKS Instruments had 15 more articles in the media than Cognex. MarketBeat recorded 17 mentions for MKS Instruments and 2 mentions for Cognex. MKS Instruments' average media sentiment score of 1.70 beat Cognex's score of 0.61 indicating that Cognex is being referred to more favorably in the media.
Summary
Cognex and MKS Instruments tied by winning 11 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.
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This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding MKSI 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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