Shares in Cognex (NASDAQ: CGNX) rose by 30.8% in April, according to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence. The moves come down to the market taking a more positive viewpoint on the economy in 2020.
Cognex tends to derive around half of its sales from the automotive and consumer electronics markets, and unfortunately those weren't great markets to be in in 2019. Declining light-vehicle sales/production and smartphone sales put a hold on capital spending plans in both industries in 2019 -- bad news for Cognex. For reference, the company's machine vision systems help manufacturers and logistics companies monitor, control, and guide automated processes like car production or smartphone manufacturing.
Cognex's machine vision systems help eliminate defects in smartphone production. Image source: Getty Images.