Al Root

Shares of machine vision provider Cognex soared after the company posted a pristine quarter, marking the latest positive set of results from an industrial company.

The U.S. manufacturing economy is improving.

On Wednesday, Cognex announced fourth-quarter earnings per share of 27 cents from sales of $252 million. Wall Street was looking for 22 cents and $239 million, respectively. A year ago, Cognex reported EPS of 16 cents from sales of $230 million.

Management's financial forecasts were solid, too. For the first quarter, the company expects earnings per share of about 24 cents, up from 16 cents a year ago. Sales should be about $245 million, up from $216 million.

The consensus calls on Wall Street were for 18 cents and $228 million, respectively.

"2025 marked a return to profitable growth for Cognex, with constant--currency revenue growth of 8% and adjusted EPS growth of 38%," said CEO Matt Moschner in a news release. "We made significant progress against each of our strategic objectives, including advancing our technology leadership in AI-enabled industrial machine vision, raising the bar on our end-to-end customer experience, and making steady progress toward our customer growth objective."

The company also said it was exiting some lower-margin business and looking to deliver $35 to $40 million in cost savings this year.

That walloping does of good news sent the stock up 24% in premarket trading to $53.15, while S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were up about 0.3%.

"Cognex's Q4 2025 results beat both our and market expectations," wrote J.P. Morgan analyst Tomohiko Sano on Wednesday, noting the company has confidence in its ability to expand profit margins.

Sano rates shares at Sell and has a $35 price target for the stock. D.A. Davidson analyst Matt Summerville rates shares Hold. His price target is $38.

Logistics and factory automation business helped lead to the earnings beat, he wrote, adding that Cognex's balance sheet "remains supportive of capital deployment optionality." That means Cognex has the flexibility to pursue acquisitions, share buybacks, or other value-creating actions.

The company ended the quarter with $642 million in cash and investments and no debt.

Coming into Thursday trading, Cognex stock was up 20% year to date, boosted by improving investor sentiment toward the U.S. manufacturing economy.

On balance, earnings from industrial companies have been strong in recent weeks. Shares of automation provider Zebra Technologies, for instance, were up 12% in premarket trading after its fourth-quarter earnings report. EPS of $4.33 matched Wall Street estimates, while management's guidance for 2026 SEPS of about $18 topped Street projections of $17.10.

What is more, the ISM Purchasing Managers' Index, a gauge of manufacturing activity, came in above 50 in January, a level indicating growth. That was a welcome data point: The ISM PMI has been below 50 for virtually all of the past three years.

Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com

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February 12, 2026 09:16 ET (14:16 GMT)

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