$Cognex (CGNX.US)$It was an American company that listed at ...

Over the past five years, gross profit margin has fallen from 77.5% to 73.3%, and return on equity has rebounded to 20.8% in 2021 after falling from 24% to 13.4%.

Over the past five years, with the exception of a 10 per cent decline in 2019, revenue has maintained growth for the other four years.

Operating profit fell 14.7 per cent and 35.5 per cent in 2018 and 2019 respectively. In 2020 and 2021, it took two years to return to five-year highs; net profit fell 7 per cent and 13.6 per cent in 2019 and 2020, respectively, and rose to a peak in 2021. The average growth rate of net profit over the past five years was 13.4%, and the average growth rate in the past three years was 8.5%.

Revenue in the first two quarters of 2022 grew by 9.6%, but operating profit and net profit fell 4.1% and 14.4%, respectively. Profit growth seems unsustainable.

At present, TTM is not very attractive with a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.7 times and 32.8 times earnings.