Machine vision companies reporting strong numbers for 2014

Three major machine vision companies from different parts of the world have reported strong sales figures for 2014—representing yet another promising sign for the machine vision industry.

At the end of last year, in the midst of covering all of the projections and prognostications for 2014 and beyond, I also wrote an article which pointed out that a number of major vision companies announced expansion and increased presence worldwide. This was once again to reaffirm the oft-covered notion that the machine vision industry could be on the rise. In the latest round of positive news for the industry, three well-known companies have reported growth for 2014.

Cognex

In 2014, net income for Cognex grew a staggering 65% from $73.5 million to $121.4 million. A financial report from the company notes that a notable contributor to the company’s 2014 results was $70 million of revenue from a single customer. Revenue in 2014 grew 37% from $353.8 million to $486.2 million.

"2014 was a fabulous year for Cognex! We reported the highest annual revenue, net income and earnings per share in our 34-year history," said Dr. Robert J. Shillman, Chairman of Cognex. "In addition, operating margin expanded to 30% driven by the substantial leverage in our business model. That level is a dramatic increase over the 24% reported for 2013 and was achieved despite the significant investments that we made in sales and engineering during the year."

Robert J. Willett, CEO of Cognex, expects the momentum to carry into 2015.

"For Q1, we expect strong revenue growth year-on-year and gross margin in the mid-70% range. We plan to continue to invest in both engineering and sales, which is necessary to deliver on opportunities we see coming later in the year."

Datalogic

Sales revenues in 2014 for the Italian company came in at €464.5 million, which is up 3.1% from €450.7 million. In addition, net profit totaled €30.9 million, which is up 14.7% compared to €26.9 million in the previous year. The year-over-year growth highlights a general recovery for the ADC (Automatic data capture) division of the company, which was helped largely the introduction of a number of new products.

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