Crane NXT (NYSE:CXT) & Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) Head to Head Comparison

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) and Crane NXT (NYSE:CXT) are both technology companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, dividends, institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations, earnings and risk.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Cognex and Crane NXT, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Cognex	0	5	10	2	2.82
Crane NXT	0	2	4	1	2.86

Cognex currently has a consensus price target of $75.64, indicating a potential upside of 22.26%. Crane NXT has a consensus price target of $68.20, indicating a potential upside of 34.52%. Given Crane NXT’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Crane NXT is more favorable than Cognex.

Profitability

This table compares Cognex and Crane NXT’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Cognex	16.05%	13.50%	10.02%
Crane NXT	7.78%	19.87%	7.43%

Risk and Volatility

Cognex has a beta of 1.49, meaning that its share price is 49% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Crane NXT has a beta of 1.08, meaning that its share price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Cognex pays an annual dividend of $0.34 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.5%. Crane NXT pays an annual dividend of $0.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. Cognex pays out 33.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Crane NXT pays out 29.8% 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 10 consecutive years and Crane NXT has raised its dividend for 2 consecutive years. Crane NXT is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

88.1% of Cognex shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 77.5% of Crane NXT shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.7% of Cognex shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.8% of Crane NXT shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Cognex and Crane NXT”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Cognex	$1.09 billion	9.56	$114.44 million	$1.03	60.07
Crane NXT	$1.66 billion	1.76	$145.10 million	$2.42	20.95

Crane NXT has higher revenue and earnings than Cognex. Crane NXT is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Cognex, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Cognex beats Crane NXT on 10 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Cognex

Cognex Corporation provides machine vision products that capture and analyze visual information to automate manufacturing and distribution tasks worldwide. Its machine vision products are used to automate the manufacturing and tracking of discrete items, including mobile phones, electric vehicle batteries, and e-commerce packages by locating, identifying, inspecting, and measuring them during the manufacturing or distribution process. The company offers VisionPro software, a suite of patented vision tools for advanced programming; QuickBuild that allows customers to build vision applications with a graphical, flowchart-based programming interface; and Cognex deep learning vision software. It also provides a range of inspection tasks, including part location, identification, measurement, assembly verification, and robotic guidance; vision sensors for vision applications, such as checking the presence and size of parts; and the In-Sight product line of vision systems and sensors. In addition, the company offers DataMan, an image-based barcode readers and barcode verifiers. It sells its products to automotive, logistics, consumer electronics, medical-related, semiconductor, consumer products, food and beverage, and others, as well as through a network of distributors and integrators. The company was incorporated in 1981 and is headquartered in Natick, Massachusetts.

About Crane NXT

Crane NXT, Co. operates as an industrial technology company that provides technology solutions to secure, detect, and authenticate customers’ important assets. The company operates through Crane Payment Innovations and Crane Currency segments. The Crane Payment Innovations segment offers electronic equipment and associated software, as well as advanced automation solutions, processing systems, field service solutions, remote diagnostics, and productivity software solutions. The Crane Currency segment provides advanced security solutions based on proprietary technology for securing physical products, including banknotes, consumer goods, and industrial products. Crane NXT, Co. was incorporated in 2021 and is based in Waltham, Massachusetts.