Cognex (CGNX) Competitors

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) and Coherent (NYSE:COHR) are both mid-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, media sentiment, valuation, institutional ownership, earnings, dividends, community ranking, analyst recommendations and profitability.

Which has preferable valuation and earnings, CGNX or COHR?

Cognex has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Coherent. Coherent 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
Cognex	$914.52M	5.06	$106.17M	$0.61	44.75
Coherent	$5.31B	1.88	-$156.15M	-$0.41	-156.85

Does the MarketBeat Community favor CGNX or COHR?

Coherent received 46 more outperform votes than Cognex when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 62.97% of users gave Coherent an outperform vote while only 59.95% of users gave Cognex an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Cognex	Outperform Votes 527 59.95%	Underperform Votes 352 40.05%
Coherent	Outperform Votes 573 62.97%	Underperform Votes 337 37.03%

Which has more volatility & risk, CGNX or COHR?

Cognex has a beta of 1.56, meaning that its share price is 56% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Coherent has a beta of 1.88, meaning that its share price is 88% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media refer more to CGNX or COHR?

In the previous week, Cognex had 21 more articles in the media than Coherent. MarketBeat recorded 25 mentions for Cognex and 4 mentions for Coherent. Cognex's average media sentiment score of 0.91 beat Coherent's score of 0.27 indicating that Cognex is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Cognex	10 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	8 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Coherent	0 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Do analysts recommend CGNX or COHR?

Cognex currently has a consensus target price of $42.23, indicating a potential upside of 54.69%. Coherent has a consensus target price of $103.27, indicating a potential upside of 60.58%. Given Coherent's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Coherent is more favorable than Cognex.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Cognex	1 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.53
Coherent	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	12 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Is CGNX or COHR more profitable?

Cognex has a net margin of 11.61% compared to Coherent's net margin of 1.28%. Coherent's return on equity of 8.29% beat Cognex's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Cognex	11.61%	5.65%	4.25%
Coherent	1.28%	8.29%	3.25%

Do insiders & institutionals believe in CGNX or COHR?

88.1% of Cognex shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 83.3% of Coherent shares are held by institutional investors. 1.6% of Cognex shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of Coherent shares are held by company 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.

Summary

Cognex beats Coherent on 10 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.