Cognex Corporation (CGNX, Financial) reported second quarter results that blew away Wall Street’s expectations late Monday, pushing its shares to their highest point in more than seven years.
The “machine vision” company earned $0.45 per share on $83.4 million in revenue during the quarter, well ahead of the average views for both profit ($0.37 per share) and sales ($80.7 million). Net income rose 28% year-over-year while revenue gained 16%.
Cognex also said it expects to bring in revenue of $78 to $81 million during its third quarter, which is mostly ahead of the consensus analyst estimate of $78.25 million. (It’s worth noting that the revenue figure reported today was completely above the guidance range Cognex gave three months ago.)
This is the second time this year Cognex has soundly beaten expectations, following its big first quarter. The company’s stock is acting accordingly.
Shares of CGNX have surged as high as $37.49 (+13.74%) today, which is their highest intraday level since July 2004. At that price, the stock carries a 0.96% dividend yield.
Cognex slashed its quarterly payout from $0.15 per share all the way down to $0.05 per share in 2009, and has since recovered 40% of that big reduction via a string of dividend hikes. The company gave shareholders their third raise in 12 months when it pushed its payout to $0.09 per share back in May.
