Cognex has received a large order in the factory automation sector, which contributed significantly to the highest quarterly revenue, net income and earnings per share in the company’s 33-year history. Revenue for the third quarter of 2014 was $169.4 million, an increase of 87 per cent over Q3 2013 and 56 per cent over Q2 2014.
The company received $65 million of revenue from a single customer in Q3 2014 working in the factory automation sector. The factory automation market revenue increased 103 per cent year-on-year and 75 per cent sequentially to set a new quarterly record of $146 million.
Cognex expects revenue for Q4 2014 to be between $111 million and $114 million, a decrease on Q3 results since the large order it received in Q3 will not be repeated in the fourth quarter. This revenue range, however, represents an increase of 16 per cent to 19 per cent over the revenue reported for Q4 2013.
Dr Robert Shillman, chairman of Cognex, commented: ‘Operating margin expanded to 35 per cent, despite the significant investments we made during the quarter.’
Research, development and engineering (RD&E) expenses increased 52 per cent over Q3 2013 and 36 per cent over Q2 2014. The increase, both year-on-year and sequentially, was due to Cognex's investment in engineering personnel, a higher bonus accrual, and higher outside services, materials and supplies related to new product development, according to the company.
‘We are proud of our outstanding performance in the third quarter. Thanks to significant revenue from our largest customer, we were able to turn a very strong quarter into a truly remarkable one,’ said Robert Willett, CEO of Cognex. ‘During the quarter we once again saw the benefit of our engineering investments with the introduction of a number of exciting new products. We expect that our continued investment in innovation will fuel future profitable growth.’
Thermal imaging company, Flir Systems, reported a five per cent increase in revenue at $375.4 million for Q3 2014 compared to the same quarter last year. Of note was revenue from the company’s security segment, which was up 37 per cent to $48.6 million. The instruments segment increased seven per cent, contributing $82.6 million, but the surveillance sector was down six per cent compared to the same period last year at $119.1 million.
Based on financial results for the first nine months of 2014 and the outlook for the remainder of the year, Flir now expects revenue for the full year 2014 to be in the range of $1.48 billion to $1.53 billion.
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