Skip to main content
CGNX $65.63 +6.56%
CGNX logo

CGNX · Cognex Corp

Track CGNX — free
$65.63 +4.04 (+6.56%) At close · Aug 14
Market Cap
$11.04B
Shares
168.22M
All earnings calls

Earnings call · FY2026 Q1

Cognex Corp Q1 FY2026 Earnings Call

Cognex Corp Q1 FY2026 Earnings Call

Concluded May 7, 2026 Audio replay
May 7, 2026 1:02:20 56 turns
Period
FY2026 Q1
Runtime
1:02:20
Sources
4 artifacts

Executive readout · one minute

What matters this quarter

Cognex reported a strong Q1 2026 with revenue up 24% year-over-year to $268 million, adjusted EBITDA margin expanding 1,010 bps to 26.9%, and adjusted EPS up 113% to $0.34, while launching two new AI vision systems and returning $113 million to shareholders.

End market demand and outlook 43 Cost and productivity initiatives 18 Margin expansion and profitability 15 Regional performance and geographic strategy 13 AI vision product launches (In-Sight 6900 and 3900) 11 Portfolio optimization (Japan divestiture) 10

Management tone

Confident

Net tone +72 · low hedging

Grounding quotes
  • “we delivered an exceptional start to the year”
  • “Q1 results reflect meaningful progress against our strategic objectives and position us well to navigate a dynamic macro environment”
  • “We are, therefore, only slightly adjusting our full year end market outlook at this time and expect to provide more clarity during the next earnings call”
  • “PMI remains in expansion territory and overall things look good”

Research coverage

4 live sources

Switch sources without leaving this page or losing your listening position.

Revenue $268.44M +24.3% YoY
Diluted EPS $0.31 +121.4% YoY
Gross margin 71.1% +4.3 pp YoY
Net income $51.70M +119.1% YoY

Research materials

Open the source you need; every reader stays inside this workspace.

Key takeaways

What improved, and what deserves a closer read.

Constructive signals

  • Revenue increased 24% year-over-year (+21% constant currency) to $268 million, exceeding expectations with broad-based strength across major end markets
  • Adjusted EBITDA margin expanded 1,010 bps to 26.9%, marking the seventh consecutive quarter of margin improvement
  • Adjusted EPS grew 113% year-over-year to $0.34, the seventh straight quarter of EPS growth
  • Trailing 12-month free cash flow conversion was 119%, meeting the >100% target for the sixth consecutive quarter
  • Launched two new embedded AI vision systems (In-Sight 6900 powered by NVIDIA and In-Sight 3900 powered by Qualcomm), strengthening position in approximately $3.5B of served market
  • Returned $113 million to shareholders in Q1 primarily through opportunistic share repurchases

Risks & pressure points

  • Company cited macro headwinds including geopolitical conflicts, rising energy costs, memory chip availability/pricing, and interest rate uncertainty, monitoring impact on second half
  • Lengthening lead times observed in some areas for memory and image sensors, though mitigated at present
  • Tariffs slightly offset gross margin expansion in Q1
  • European automotive remains a weaker spot, with overall automotive full-year outlook held at flat to low single-digit growth
  • Adjusted operating expenses increased 9% year-over-year (4% constant currency), including approximately $5 million of higher incentive compensation, commissions, and stock-based compensation tied to outperformance
  • Q1 2025 was a softer comparison due to pull-forward into Q4 2024, and logistics growth expected to normalize to mid- to high single digits as comps strengthen

Key moments

Jump directly to management's words in the synchronized transcript.

“In summary, we are very pleased with the strong start to the year as focused execution drove broad-based outperformance across revenue, margin and bottom line earnings. Q1 results reflect meaningful progress against our strategic objectives and position us well to navigate a dynamic macro environment.” Matt Moschner, CEO
“We returned $113 million to shareholders this quarter, including $99 million through opportunistic share repurchases that reflect attractive buying opportunities, mostly at the beginning of the quarter. These actions contributed to a reduction in our average share count of approximately 2 million shares.” Dennis Fehr, CFO

Quarter detail

How the reported period landed and where the business moved.

Revenue · products & services

Standard Products and Services$254.44M +24.4% YoY
Application Specific Customer Solutions$14.00M +21.4% YoY

Capital returned

Buybacks
$99.00M
Dividend / share
$0.09
Full-screen source Call document