What happened
Shares of Cognex Corporation (CGNX 1.02%) have jumped today, up by 20% as of 12:30 p.m. EDT, after the company reported second-quarter earnings. The machine vision specialist posted the highest revenue in its history.
So what
Revenue in the second quarter jumped 19% to $211.3 million, which translated into net income of $56.2 million, or $0.32 per share. On a non-GAAP basis, earnings per share came in at $0.31. While sales grew, profitability did not, as the company has been investing in research and development for new products. R&D expenses rose 15% from a year ago, and selling, general, and administrative expenses increased by 27%.
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Cognex finished the quarter with $755 million in cash and investments on the balance sheet and no debt. The company spent $121 million on stock repurchases during the period.
Now what
"I am pleased with our overall Q2 performance, which was slightly better than our expectations," CEO Robert J. Willett said in a statement. "Revenue grew by 19% year-on-year despite significantly lower revenue from the OLED display market in Asia. Opportunities for machine vision in our other served markets continue to grow rapidly, and because of that, we plan to go on investing strongly in new product development and sales resources to position ourselves for success over the long term."
In terms of guidance, Cognex expects revenue in the third quarter to be in the range of $220 million to $230 million, which would represent a decline compared to the year-ago quarter. The company attributes this to lower revenue from "large customers in OLED display and smartphone manufacturing." Gross margin percentage should fall in the mid-70s, which is the company's target under new revenue recognition standards. Operating expenses should be flat sequentially.
