Needham & Company Downgrades Cognex (CGNX) to Hold

Needham & Company downgraded Cognex (NASDAQ: CGNX) from Buy to Hold.

Analyst James Ricchiuti commented, "With CGNX shares near record levels and bumping up against our target, we have been looking at various scenarios to gauge potential upside to our estimates. After applying more aggressive growth expectations for this year and 2018, and having much of the upside flow through to the bottom line, we are frankly hard pressed to see a sufficiently attractive risk-reward to support a meaningfully higher PT. Based on Street estimates, CGNX shares are trading at 43x and 35x respective 2017 and 2018 estimates. We can see a scenario where growth in 2017 could be solidly above Street estimates, reflecting strong growth in the consumer electronics (Apple) and broader factory automation businesses, but we expect comparisons to get more challenging in Q4 and 2018. Downgrading to Hold from Buy."

For an analyst ratings summary and ratings history on Cognex click here. For more ratings news on Cognex click here.

Shares of Cognex closed at $79.64 yesterday.

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