Cognex Facing Automation Capex Cycle That Will Likely Offset China Competition, UBS Says

MT Newswires Live02-18

Cognex (CGNX) is seeing capital expenditure by clients for automation projects that will likely offset any competitive pressures from Chinese companies in the sector, UBS said in a note to clients emailed Tuesday.

UBS said it remains positive on Cognex despite the company's near-term outlook and conference call comments that led to a 15% correction in its share price.

The narrative for Cognex is "largely unchanged" as its Logistics clients spent generously in Q4, while Consumer Electronics demand saw some improvement in H2, UBS said.

"We think Logistics growth momentum will continue, Consumer Electronics and general Industrial will finally grow again this year, and [Cognex] will realize high operating leverage on the demand recovery -- this should support EPS doubling over the next two years," the investment firm said.

Additionally, competition from Chinese companies in the machine vision space currently impacts a "fairly small" portion of Cognex's business, UBS said.

Cognex has a strong balance sheet, limited direct tariff exposure, and the shares, which are inexpensive relative to history/peers, now have limited downside, the note said.

UBS reiterated its buy rating on Cognex and trimmed the price target to $56 from $58.

Price: 32.86, Change: -0.34, Percent Change: -1.02

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