Vishay Intertechnology (NYSE:VSH) and Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) Head to Head Review

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) and Vishay Intertechnology (NYSE:VSH) are both mid-cap technology companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation, earnings, risk, institutional ownership and profitability.

Volatility and Risk

Cognex has a beta of 1.49, suggesting that its share price is 49% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Vishay Intertechnology has a beta of 1.8, suggesting that its share price is 80% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

88.1% of Cognex shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.7% of Vishay Intertechnology shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.7% of Cognex shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 8.3% of Vishay Intertechnology shares are owned by 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.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Cognex and Vishay Intertechnology, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Cognex	0	5	10	2	2.82
Vishay Intertechnology	1	3	4	1	2.56

Cognex currently has a consensus target price of $75.64, indicating a potential upside of 25.86%. Vishay Intertechnology has a consensus target price of $36.17, indicating a potential upside of 15.38%. Given Cognex’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Cognex is more favorable than Vishay Intertechnology.

Profitability

This table compares Cognex and Vishay Intertechnology’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%
Vishay Intertechnology	0.86%	1.84%	0.94%

Dividends

Cognex pays an annual dividend of $0.34 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.6%. Vishay Intertechnology pays an annual dividend of $0.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. Cognex pays out 33.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Vishay Intertechnology pays out 210.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Cognex has raised its dividend for 10 consecutive years.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Cognex and Vishay Intertechnology”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Cognex	$994.36 million	10.17	$114.44 million	$1.03	58.35
Vishay Intertechnology	$3.07 billion	1.57	-$8.98 million	$0.19	164.98

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

Summary

Cognex beats Vishay Intertechnology on 12 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 Vishay Intertechnology

Vishay Intertechnology, Inc. manufactures and sells discrete semiconductors and passive electronic components in Asia, Europe, and the Americas. The company operates through Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistors (MOSFETs), Diodes, Optoelectronic Components, Resistors, Inductors, and Capacitors segments. The MOSFETs segment offers low- and medium-voltage TrenchFET MOSFETs, high-voltage planar MOSFETs, high voltage Super Junction MOSFETs, power integrated circuits, and integrated function power devices. The Diodes segment provides rectifiers, small signal diodes, protection diodes, thyristors/silicon-controlled rectifiers, and power modules. The Optoelectronic Components segment contains standard and customer specific optoelectronic components, such as infrared (IR) emitters and detectors, IR remote control receivers, optocouplers, solid-state relays, optical sensors, light-emitting diodes, 7-segment displays, and IR data transceiver modules. The Resistors segment offers resistors, which are basic components used in various forms of electronic circuitry to adjust and regulate levels of voltage and current. The Inductors segment provides inductors for use as an internal magnetic field to change alternating current phase and resist alternating current. The Capacitors segment offers capacitors, which store energy and discharge it when needed. It sells its products under Siliconix, Dale, Draloric, Beyschlag, Sfernice, MCB, UltraSource, Applied Thin-Film Products, IHLP, HiRel Systems, Sprague, Vitramon, Barry, Roederstein, ESTA, and BCcomponents brand names. The company serves industrial, automotive, telecommunications, computing, consumer products, power supplies, military and aerospace, and medical end markets. Vishay Intertechnology, Inc. was incorporated in 1962 and is headquartered in Malvern, Pennsylvania.