Cognex Corp (CGNX) 2024 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Greetings, and welcome to Cognex fourth quarter and full year 2024 earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Nathan McCurren, Head of Investor Relations. Thank you, you may begin.

大家好，歡迎參加康耐視 2024 年第四季和全年財報電話會議。（操作員指示）提醒一下，本次會議正在錄音。現在我很高興介紹您的主持人，投資者關係主管 Nathan McCurren。謝謝您，您可以開始了。

Thank you, operator. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. Our press release was published yesterday after market closed, and our annual report on Form 10-K for 2024 was filed this morning. The press release, earnings presentation, and 10-K are available on the investor relations section of our website. Both our published materials and the call today will reference non-GAAP measures. You can find a reconciliation of certain items from GAAP to non-GAAP in our press release and earnings presentation.

謝謝您，接線生。大家早安，感謝大家的收看。我們的新聞稿於昨天市場收盤後發布，我們的 2024 年 10-K 表年度報告於今天早上提交。新聞稿、收益報告和 10-K 可在我們網站的投資者關係部分找到。我們發布的資料和今天的電話會議都將參考非公認會計準則指標。您可以在我們的新聞稿和收益報告中找到某些項目從 GAAP 到非 GAAP 的對帳表。

Any forward-looking statements we made in the press release, the accompanying presentation posted to our website, or any that we may make during this call are based upon information that we believe to be true as of today. Our actual results may differ from our projections due to the risks and uncertainties that are described in our SEC filings, including our most recent Form 10-K.

我們在新聞稿、發佈到我們網站的隨附簡報中所做的任何前瞻性陳述或在本次電話會議中可能做出的任何陳述均基於我們認為截至今天屬實的資訊。由於我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件（包括我們最新的 10-K 表格）中所述的風險和不確定性，我們的實際結果可能與我們的預測不同。

On today's call, Rob Willett, Cognex's President and CEO, will discuss end market trends and provide an update on our strategic initiatives. Dennis Fehr, Cognex's CFO, will discuss our fourth quarter financial results and we'll conclude with our outlook.

在今天的電話會議上，康耐視總裁兼執行長 Rob Willett 將討論終端市場趨勢並提供我們的策略舉措的最新資訊。康耐視財務長丹尼斯費爾 (Dennis Fehr) 將討論我們第四季度的財務業績，並做出最後展望。

With that, I'll turn the call over to Rob.

說完這些，我將把電話轉給 Rob。

Thanks, Nathan. Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining us. We began 2024 with the strategic priorities of infusing AI into more of our products and tools, transforming and expanding our sales force and integrating Moritex, our largest acquisition in company history. I am pleased with the progress we made against these strategic priorities in 2024. We expanded our portfolio of machine vision products powered by world class AI.

謝謝，內森。大家好，感謝大家的參與。2024 年伊始，我們的策略重點是將人工智慧融入更多產品和工具中、改造和擴大銷售團隊以及整合 Moritex，這是公司歷史上最大的收購。我對我們在 2024 年實現這些策略重點所取得的進展感到滿意。我們擴展了由世界一流的人工智慧驅動的機器視覺產品組合。

A couple of highlights include the industry's first AI-enabled 3D smart camera, the In-Sight L38, and the addition of the Modular Vision Tunnel portfolio featuring the powerful DataMan 380 barcode reader that uses improved decoding optimized for logistics applications to minimize footprint, maximize depth of field, and read the smallest codes.

其中的幾個亮點包括業界首款支援人工智慧的 3D 智慧相機 In-Sight L38，以及新增的模組化視覺隧道產品組合，該產品組合具有強大的 DataMan 380 條碼閱讀器，該閱讀器使用針對物流應用優化的改進解碼技術，以最大限度地減少佔用空間、最大限度地增加景深並讀取最小的代碼。

We successfully executed our sales transformation, deploying a new type of salesnoid to broaden our sales reach to customers we have not traditionally served. And we successfully integrated our largest ever acquisition, Moritex, which gives us a more complete machine vision solution and contributes positively to our bottom line. This transaction was accretive to adjusted EPS in 2024, which led to a slight increase in adjusted EPS for the year in an otherwise soft market.

我們成功實現了銷售轉型，部署了新型銷售人員，將銷售範圍擴大到我們傳統上未曾服務過的客戶。我們成功整合了迄今為止最大的收購公司 Moritex，這為我們提供了更完整的機器視覺解決方案，並為我們的盈利做出了積極貢獻。該交易將增加 2024 年調整後每股收益，從而導致在原本疲軟的市場環境下，當年調整後每股收益略有增加。

In 2024, our logistics and semiconductor businesses gained momentum. But conditions across our broader factory automation business remained challenging. Most of these markets stabilized throughout the year. Despite a slight improvement in relevant macro leading indicators such as PMI, we still characterize our core factory automation markets as soft but stable for now.

2024年，我們的物流和半導體業務發展勢頭強勁。但我們更廣泛的工廠自動化業務狀況仍充滿挑戰。大多數市場全年都保持穩定。儘管PMI等相關宏觀領先指標略有改善，但我們仍將核心工廠自動化市場描述為疲軟但穩定。

The exception continues to be automotive, where we saw a pronounced step down in 2024. Coming into the year, we expected automotive to grow, helped by significant EV battery spending. But this investment dropped off throughout the year, leading automotive to be our weakest end market in 2024. We continue to see uncertainty in auto as we begin 2025. These mixed market dynamics led to overall revenue growth of 9% or 1% excluding Moritex for the full year. Throughout 2024, while we continue to invest in long term growth initiatives, we stayed disciplined in our approach to discretionary spending and thoughtful about hiring.

汽車產業仍然是一個例外，我們在 2024 年看到了汽車產業明顯的下滑。進入今年，我們預計汽車業將會成長，這得益於大量電動車電池支出的推動。但這項投資全年都在下降，導致汽車成為我們 2024 年最薄弱的終端市場。2025年伊始，我們持續看到汽車產業的不確定性。這些混合的市場動態導致全年整體收入成長 9% 或 1%（不包括 Moritex）。在整個 2024 年，我們將繼續投資於長期成長計劃，同時我們在自由支配支出方面保持嚴謹，並在招聘方面深思熟慮。

I now want to provide you with a more detailed update on our strategic initiatives. We are seeing rapid changes in technology with powerful chips accelerating AI innovation. For industrial machine vision, this means moving beyond the world of rules-based algorithms towards a more sophisticated suite of powerful artificial intelligence tools. Transformer models are overtaking convolutional neural networks as the foundation of deep learning.

現在，我想向您提供有關我們策略舉措的更詳細的最新資訊。我們看到科技正在快速變化，強大的晶片加速了人工智慧的創新。對於工業機器視覺而言，這意味著超越基於規則的演算法的世界，走向更複雜、更強大的人工智慧工具套件。Transformer 模型正在取代卷積神經網路成為深度學習的基礎。

As this shift accelerates, customers will need significantly less data to train and configure our products, and we'll be able to ramp up and scale production faster. This will allow machine vision to address more applications and reach more customers.

隨著這種轉變的加速，客戶將需要更少的數據來訓練和配置我們的產品，我們將能夠更快地提高和擴大生產規模。這將使機器視覺能夠解決更多的應用問題並接觸更多的客戶。

Cognex is defining the leading edge of this shift in industrial machine vision technology by launching industry leading products that leverage AI to solve customers' problems. Our new products address the full spectrum of machine vision applications. At one end of the spectrum, new AI allows us to excel at the most complex and difficult inspection tasks, while at the other, it allows us to develop products that are easy to deploy and easy to use.

康耐視透過推出利用人工智慧解決客戶問題的業界領先產品，定義了工業機器視覺技術轉變的前沿。我們的新產品涵蓋了機器視覺應用的各個領域。一方面，新的人工智慧使我們能夠出色地完成最複雜、最困難的檢查任務；另​​一方面，它使我們能夠開發出易於部署且易於使用的產品。

In December we launched VisionPro Deep Learning 4.0 illustrated on page 4 of our presentation. This powerful software designed to tackle the most difficult problems in machine vision is Cognex's first ever product to utilize transformer models. Transformer technology, which forms the core of sophisticated large language models such as chat GPT, can help to vastly reduce the number of images required to train and implement a machine vision model.

12 月，我們推出了 VisionPro Deep Learning 4.0，如我們的簡報第 4 頁所示。這款強大的軟體旨在解決機器視覺中最困難的問題，也是康耐視第一款利用變壓器模型的產品。Transformer 技術是聊天 GPT 等複雜大型語言模型的核心，它可以幫助大幅減少訓練和實施機器視覺模型所需的圖像數量。

VisionPro Deep Learning 4.0 signature few sample mode achieves high levels of accuracy on some of the most sophisticated inspections after training on as few as 10 images. Previous versions would have required hundreds of images to train a vision model with such capability. This is very valuable for customers who require high accuracy, but do not have large training data sets, which is often the case as they scale up their production. It is also important for customers whose production cycles are only a few months long and therefore require effective models to be ready in weeks.

VisionPro Deep Learning 4.0 標誌性小樣本模式僅需對 10 張影像進行訓練即可在一些最複雜的檢查中實現高精度。先前的版本需要數百張圖像來訓練具有這種能力的視覺模型。對於需要高精度但沒有大型訓練資料集的客戶來說，這非常有價值，而他們在擴大生產規模時經常遇到這種情況。對於生產週期只有幾個月、需要在幾週內準備好有效模型的客戶來說，這也很重要。

Few sample mode saves customers time collecting, labeling, and managing image data, which has historically been a costly process. We have also expanded our dataman series to address more applications for customers looking for easy to use products. As illustrated on page 5, our new data man series makes identifying and tracking parts and packages across the facility easier than ever.

少量樣本模式可節省客戶收集、標記和管理影像資料的時間，而這在歷史上一直是一個昂貴的過程。我們也擴展了我們的資料管理器系列，以滿足尋求易於使用產品的客戶更多的應用需求。如第 5 頁所示，我們的新數據人系列使整個工廠的零件和包裝的識別和追蹤變得比以往更加容易。

Regardless of industry, code quality, or application complexity, embedded AI in these next generation readers helps deliver exceptional read rates for reliable performance at every stage of production. Our latest DataMan products are examples of the products that allow us to get a highly advanced powerful technology into the hands of customers with less machine vision experience. We continue to tap into this broader customer base by investing to transform and expand sales coverage.

無論產業、程式碼品質或應用程式複雜性如何，這些新一代讀取器中嵌入的人工智慧都有助於提供出色的讀取率，從而在每個生產階段實現可靠的效能。我們最新的 DataMan 產品就是一個例子，這些產品讓我們能夠將高度先進、強大的技術交到機器視覺經驗較少的客戶手中。我們透過投資轉型和擴大銷售覆蓋範圍，持續挖掘更廣泛的客戶群。

Moving to page 6 of the earnings presentation, we are enthusiastic about the progress of our sales transformation in 2024. Our first class of new Salesnoids continued to ramp with Q4 representing their highest quarter of bookings to date, leading to over 3,000 new customers acquired by this group in 2024. These entry level Salesnoids are also continuing to gain strong traction in referrals of more complex vision systems to our more technical and advanced Salesnoids. The second cohort of new Salesnoids entered the field recently, and we expect this to further grow our customer base in 2025.

翻到財報的第 6 頁，我們對 2024 年銷售轉型的進展充滿熱情。我們的第一批新 Salesnoid 數量持續增加，第四季度是迄今為止預訂量最高的一個季度，這使得該群體在 2024 年獲得了 3,000 多名新客戶。這些入門級 Salesnoid 也繼續在向我們更具技術性和先進性的 Salesnoid 推薦更複雜的視覺系統方面獲得強大的吸引力。第二批新的 Salesnoids 最近進入了該領域，我們預計這將在 2025 年進一步擴大我們的客戶群。

We remain confident in the long-term value of our sales transformation strategy, allowing us to serve more customers with easy to use products. We're excited to continue this strategy and introduce a new cohort of Salesnoids each year. As we plan for future years, we will be flexible about cohort sizes and be responsive to market conditions.

我們對銷售轉型策略的長期價值充滿信心，這使我們能夠為更多客戶提供易於使用的產品。我們很高興能繼續這項策略並每年推出一批新的 Salesnoids。在規劃未來幾年時，我們將靈活調整隊列規模並根據市場狀況做出反應。

Turning now to what we are seeing across our end markets which you will find on page 7 of the earnings presentation. I will discuss the end market results for the year excluding the contribution of Moritex. And markets have been mixed, as we have seen both continued softness as well as pockets of growth.

現在來看看我們在終端市場看到的情況，您可以在收益報告的第 7 頁上看到。我將討論不包括 Moritex 貢獻的當年終端市場表現。市場表現喜憂參半，我們既看到持續的疲軟，也看到一些成長跡象。

Starting with logistics, revenue grew 20% in 2024. We continue to see broad momentum in logistics from global e-commerce leaders as well as regional e-commerce, retail and parcel, and post providers. Market growth has improved as large e-commerce players return to capacity expansion and broader logistics remains an under penetrated market. We believe we also gained share with recent product innovations including the success of the Modular Vision Tunnel and Dataman 380 launched last year.

從物流開始，到 2024 年營收將成長 20%。我們繼續看到全球電子商務領導者以及區域電子商務、零售和包裹以及郵政供應商在物流領域的廣泛發展勢頭。隨著大型電子商務參與者恢復產能擴張以及更廣泛的物流仍然是一個滲透率較低的市場，市場成長有所改善。我們相信，最近的產品創新也讓我們的市佔率有所提升，包括去年推出的 Modular Vision Tunnel 和 Dataman 380 的成功。

Moving on to automotive. Revenue in automotive was down 14% year on year. We continue to see declines in EV battery investment and tentativeness in large capital projects across the broader automotive business. Coming into the year, we expected strong growth in EV battery investment and for it to be one of our largest growth engines. But as the year progressed, we saw delays, reductions, and cancellations of EV battery projects. We still expect EV battery to be a long term growth driver, but likely not in 2025.

繼續討論汽車產業。汽車業務收入較去年同期下降14%。我們持續看到電動車電池投資下降，以及整個汽車產業大型資本項目的猶豫不決。進入今年，我們預計電動車電池投資將強勁成長，並將成為我們最大的成長引擎之一。但隨著時間的推移，我們看到電動車電池專案的延遲、減少和取消。我們仍然預計電動車電池將成為長期成長動力，但可能不會在 2025 年實現。

Consumer electronics revenue was down 5% year on year as smartphone design changes remained limited and we saw conservative CapEx spending across the market. Consumer electronics has positive long term trends. Currently our expectations for near-term investment in consumer electronics are tempered, but we tend to have a better line of sight to this by early Q2 each year. So we will give you another update on our next earnings call.

由於智慧型手機設計變化有限且我們看到整個市場的資本支出較為保守，消費性電子產品收入較去年同期下降 5%。消費性電子產品具有正面的長期趨勢。目前，我們對消費性電子產品的短期投資預期有所緩和，但每年第二季初我們往往能對此有更好的預期。因此，我們將在下次收益電話會議上向您提供另一份更新資訊。

Lastly, Semi is continuing to build with significant year on year growth, albeit off a low 2023 base. Growth is widespread across Semi with investment increases from major machine builders, but we have seen strong demand driven by high bandwidth memory chip investments. As we kick off 2025, we expect momentum to continue in logistics and Semi, automotive to remain weak, and other factory automation growth to be relatively in line with macro indicators such as PMI.

最後，儘管 2023 年基數較低，但 Semi 仍在繼續實現顯著的同比增長。隨著主要機器製造商的投資增加，半導體產業普遍出現成長，但我們看到高頻寬記憶體晶片投資推動了強勁的需求。隨著 2025 年的到來，我們預計物流和半導體行業的勢頭將繼續保持，汽車行業的勢頭仍將保持疲軟，其他工廠自動化行業的成長將與 PMI 等宏觀指標相對一致。

We continue to see disruptive trends playing out in our markets. AI techno technology is making our products more accessible to an increasing number of customers and applications. We lead the industry in making machine vision technology usable by industrial customers at scale. With this, we can automate more inspection tasks and grow the machine vision market both by solving more of our sophisticated customers' most challenging problems. But also by making our powerful technology accessible for those less experienced in automation.

我們不斷看到顛覆性趨勢在我們的市場中上演。人工智慧技術正在使我們的產品更容易被越來越多的客戶和應用程式所使用。我們引領業界，使機器視覺技術能夠大規模地被工業客戶使用。透過這種方式，我們可以自動化更多的檢查任務，並透過解決更多複雜客戶最具挑戰​​性的問題來擴大機器視覺市場。同時也使那些在自動化方面經驗不足的人也能使用我們的強大技術。

Let me now hand it over to Dennis to walk you through the financial results and the outlook for the first quarter.

現在，讓我將話題交給丹尼斯，讓他向大家介紹第一季的財務表現和前景。

Thank you, Rob. Our quarterly financial highlights can be found on page 8 of our earnings presentation post to our investor website yesterday. Fourth quarter revenue of $230 million finished at the high end of our guidance range and increased 17% year on year. Excluding Moritex, revenue grew by 12%. As we have now passed the one year anniversary of the close of our Moritex acquisition, I will note that this will be the last quarter we speak to revenue trends excluding this part of our business.

謝謝你，羅布。我們的季度財務亮點可以在我們昨天發佈到投資者網站的收益報告第 8 頁上找到。第四季營收為 2.3 億美元，達到我們預期範圍的高位，年增 17%。若不計入 Moritex，營收則成長了 12%。由於我們已經度過了收購 Moritex 一周年紀念日，我要指出的是，這將是我們最後一個季度討論不包括這部分業務的收入趨勢。

From a geographic viewpoint excluding Moritex, year on year revenue grew double digits in both the Americas, led by continued logistics strengths and compounded by accelerated demand in the quarter and in other Asia, led by semiconductor. Europe declined slightly due to weaker automotive spending.

從不包括 Moritex 的地域角度來看，美洲地區的收入同比增長了兩位數，這得益於持續的物流優勢以及本季度需求的加速，而亞洲其他地區的收入則以半導體為主導。由於汽車支出疲軟，歐洲略有下降。

Year on year revenue growth in the quarter was strongest in Greater China, driven by project timing in consumer electronics, as well as an easy year ago comparison. While China revenue has grown year on year the past two quarters, we remain cautious about the overall outlook for this market, which continues to see both significant uncertainty and heightened competitive pressure.

本季與去年同期相比，大中華區營收成長最為強勁，這得益於消費性電子產品專案的時機，與去年同期相比也較為明顯。儘管過去兩季中國市場營收年增，但我們對該市場的整體前景仍持謹慎態度，因為該市場仍存在很大的不確定性和加劇的競爭壓力。

Turning to margins adjusted gross margin was 69.4% in Q4, down 130 basis points from 70.7% a year ago, driven by Moritex, negative mix from higher logistics revenue, and to a lesser extent pricing headwinds, most pronounced in China.

談到利潤率，第四季度調整後的毛利率為 69.4%，比去年同期的 70.7% 下降了 130 個基點，這主要是由於 Moritex 的影響、物流收入增加帶來的負面組合，以及在較小程度上定價方面的不利因素，其中最為明顯的是在中國。

Adjusted operating expenses increased 3% year on year and a quarter. The increase was driven by Moritex as well as investment in our salesforce transformation and expansion. As a result of reallocation and adjustment to our employee base, we incurred $3 million of reorganization costs in the quarter that are excluded from our non-gap metrics.

調整後營業費用較去年同期成長3%。成長主要得益於 Moritex 以及我們對銷售團隊轉型和擴張的投資。由於對員工基礎的重新分配和調整，我們在本季發生了 300 萬美元的重組成本，這筆成本不包括在我們的非差距指標中。

Even with our investment in salesforce expansion, ending headcount for this year was 3% below year ago levels, and we continue to focus on tight cost management. Adjusted EBITDA margin was 18.5% in Q4, above the high end of our guidance and up nearly 6-percentage-points from 12.6% a year ago. Revenue growth and high cost management drove high incremental EBITDA margin despite gross margin pressure.

即使我們在擴大銷售隊伍方面進行了投資，但今年的期末員工人數仍比去年同期低 3%，而且我們仍將專注於嚴格的成本管理。第四季調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率為 18.5%，高於我們預期的高位，比一年前 12.6% 上升了近 6 個百分點。儘管毛利率面臨壓力，但收入成長和高成本管理推動 EBITDA 利潤率大幅增加。

Diluted earnings per share on a GAAP basis was $0.16, up from $0.07 in Q4 of 2023. Adjusted diluted EPS was $0.20, up from $0.11 year on year. Both increases were due to a higher revenue and higher margins. Driven by working capital optimization, we delivered strong free cash flow for the second quarter in a row in Q4, totaling $49 million compared to $7 million in Q4 of 2023. Cognex returned $57 million to shareholders in the quarter. $43 million of share repurchase was our highest quarterly total since Q1 2022, and we intend to continue to be opportunistic with our stock buyback.

根據 GAAP 計算的每股攤薄收益為 0.16 美元，高於 2023 年第四季的 0.07 美元。調整後攤薄每股收益為 0.20 美元，高於去年同期的 0.11 美元。兩次增長均歸因於收入和利潤率的提高。在營運資本優化的推動下，我們在第四季度連續第二個季度實現了強勁的自由現金流，總計 4,900 萬美元，而 2023 年第四季為 700 萬美元。康耐視本季向股東返還了 5,700 萬美元。 4,300 萬美元的股票回購是我們自 2022 年第一季以來的最高季度總額，我們打算繼續抓住機會進行股票回購。

I will also briefly cover our full year 2024 results, which can be found on page 9 of our presentation. 2024 revenue of $915 million grew 9% year on year or 1% executing Moritex. Geographically, for the full year excluding Moritex, other Asia delivered the highest revenue growth due to Semi. In addition, the Americas grew moderately. Europe declined slightly, and China declined more materially in the year.

我也會簡要介紹我們的 2024 年全年業績，可在我們簡報的第 9 頁找到。 2024 年營收為 9.15 億美元，年增 9%，或因 Moritex 而成長 1%。從地理上看，除 Moritex 外，全年其他亞洲地區由於 Semi 的緣故收入增幅最高。此外，美洲地區也呈現溫和成長。歐洲略有下降，而中國今年的下降幅度更大。

Adjusted gross margin was 69.3% in 2024, down 3.2-percentage-points due to more attacks, unfavorable mix, and to a lesser extent pricing. For the full year, adjusted operating expense increased 6%, driven primarily by Moritex, as well as our salesforce transformation efforts. Adjusted EBITDA margin declined 140 basis points to 17.1% in 2024 due to lower gross margins and higher operating expense associated with our sales transformation.

2024 年調整後毛利率為 69.3%，下降 3.2 個百分點，原因是攻擊增加、產品組合不利、定價影響較小。全年調整後營業費用增加了 6%，主要原因是 Moritex 以及我們的銷售團隊轉型努力。由於毛利率下降以及銷售轉型導致的營運費用增加，調整後 EBITDA 利潤率在 2024 年下降 140 個基點至 17.1%。

Debt diluted earnings per share of $0.62 declined 6% year on year, partially due to a higher effective tax rate. Adjusted diluted EPS of $0.74 was up from $0.73 in 2023 as the accretion from Moritex offset softness in factory automation for the full year.

每股債務攤薄收益為 0.62 美元，年減 6%，部分原因是有效稅率較高。調整後攤薄每股收益為 0.74 美元，高於 2023 年的 0.73 美元，因為 Moritex 的成長抵消了全年工廠自動化的疲軟。

Total free cash flow in 2024 was $134 million, representing 105% conversion of adjusted net income. We returned $119 million to our shareholders in the year and ended the year with $587 million in cash and investments and no debt. I will now turn to our outlook for the first quarter on page 10 of our presentation.

2024 年總自由現金流為 1.34 億美元，佔調整後淨收入的 105%。我們今年向股東返還了 1.19 億美元，年底時我們擁有 5.87 億美元的現金和投資，並且沒有債務。現在我將轉到我們簡報第 10 頁的第一季展望。

In the first quarter, we expect revenue between $200 million and $220 million. This range continues to be reflective of a mixed and volatile micro backdrop. At the midpoint this represents revenue line with Q1 2024, reflecting our expectation of continued growth in logistics and semiconductor offset by weaker automotive and an approximately $5 million FX headwind.

我們預計第一季的營收將在 2 億至 2.2 億美元之間。這個範圍繼續反映出混合且不穩定的微背景。從中間點來看，這代表了與 2024 年第一季的營收線，反映了我們對物流和半導體持續成長的預期，但汽車業疲軟和約 500 萬美元的外匯逆風將抵消這一成長。

The expected sequential step down is driven by the acceleration and demand from customers in Q4 and an anticipated $4 million FX headwind in the first quarter. We also expect adjusted gross margin to remain in the high 60% range. Sequentially, mix is expected to be a slight headwind. Expect adjusted EBITDA margin between 12% and 15%. The midpoint of this range represents a 150 basis point increase year on year, driven by operating leverage and operating expense discipline.

預計環比下降是由於第四季度客戶的加速和需求以及第一季預計的 400 萬美元的外匯逆風。我們也預計調整後的毛利率將維持在 60% 的高點。連續，預計混合將略微逆風。預計調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率在 12% 至 15% 之間。該範圍的中間點比去年同期增加了 150 個基點，這得益於營運槓桿和營運費用控制。

Lastly, we're excited to hold our Cognex Invest Day this year on June 9 and June 10, at our Boston area headquarters, and we hope to see you there.

最後，我們很高興今年 6 月 9 日和 6 月 10 日在波士頓地區總部舉辦康耐視投資日，我們希望在那裡見到您。

Now we will open the call for questions. Operator, please go ahead.

現在我們將開始提問。接線員，請繼續。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員指令）

Damien Carris of UBS. Please go ahead.

瑞銀的 Damien Carris。請繼續。

Hey, good morning, everyone.

嘿，大家早安。

Good morning, Damien.

早安，達米安。

Good morning.

早安.

Yeah, thanks for all the color around the end market. Rob, I wanted to ask you about autos. I know you've talked in the past about this being the worst market environment you've ever experienced in your career, and I know you expect autos to also continue to be your weakest market this year. But what's your assessment on, how much lower that customer spend could possibly go from here? I mean, the business segment was down, 14% in 2024. Are you kind of thinking like double digit declines again in 2025 or or should we'd be thinking much more modest declines from here.

是的，感謝你們為終端市場帶來的改變。羅布，我想問你一些關於汽車的問題。我知道您過去曾談到這是您職業生涯中經歷過的最糟糕的市場環境，我也知道您預計汽車市場今年仍將是您最疲軟的市場。但您認為，從現在起，客戶支出還能降低多少呢？我的意思是，該業務部門下降了，到 2024 年將下降 14%。您是否認為 2025 年會出現再次兩位數的下降，或者從現在起我們應該考慮更溫和的下降。

Well, I mean, I think you paint the picture well is that, it was a very tough year, last year for automotive and, our business there in automotive. We entered the year very enthusiastic about what we saw going on in EV and EV battery, manufacturing and to give you a sense of the magnitude of that, I think coming in, we had -- we're aggressive at Cognex, we had stretch goals to really drive a lot of business into EV battery where we have just some great technology, and I think where we ended up relative to where we came on was on the order of $50 million delta.

嗯，我的意思是，我認為你描繪的很好，去年對於汽車行業以及我們在汽車行業的業務來說都是非常艱難的一年。我們對今年電動車和電動車電池製造業的發展充滿熱情，為了讓大家了解這一行業的規模，我想，在進入新一年時，我們在康耐視非常積極，我們制定了長期目標，真正推動電動汽車電池業務發展，我們在這個領域擁有一些很棒的技術，我認為，與開始時相比，我們最終的收益大約為 5,000 萬美元。

So that was, kind of the the most difficult thing that we encountered coming into the year. And that the, obviously, that continued as the year went along. Now we think it's going to continue to be a bad year for automotive, but I don't think one on the order of decline that we saw in 2024. There are some reasons to be optimistic about automotive, right? We do great things in automotive when EV battery comes back, when capacity is more utilized and investment returns and what we're able to do in that space is very good and certainly Cognex's technology in the area of sensors on the car, electronics in the car, and you know -- and some of our new technology what it can do an inspection in the cars are exciting growth areas for us.

所以，這是我們今年遇到的最困難的事情。顯然，隨著時間的推移，這種情況一直持續著。現在我們認為這對汽車行業來說將繼續是糟糕的一年，但我不認為它會像 2024 年那樣下滑。有一些理由讓我們對汽車產業持樂觀態度，對嗎？當電動車電池恢復時，當產能得到更多利用並且投資回報時，我們在汽車領域做出了偉大的成就，我們在該領域能夠做的事情非常好，當然，康耐視在汽車傳感器、汽車電子設備方面的技術，你知道——我們的一些新技術可以在汽車上進行檢查，這些都是我們令人興奮的增長領域。

And we have a sense that, investment might start to return to that market in 2026, which then might lead to sort of pickups for business for us later in the year. But it's -- we don't give full your guidance. We're not optimistic that we're going to see a good year, but I'm hoping that the time of serious decline for us in automotive is over.

我們預計，投資可能會在 2026 年開始回歸該市場，這可能會導致我們在今年稍後的業務回升。但是—我們不會給予您完整的指導。我們對於今年能否迎來好年頭並不樂觀，但我希望汽車產業的嚴重衰退時期已經結束。

That's really helpful. And then I wanted to ask you about consumer electronics, which you know was down for the second year in a row in 2024 and I know you said you'll have better insights you know when the second quarter earnings comes around, but I wanted to ask you, your slides you mentioned kind of limited change to form factors, what's your sense for that aspect, this coming year, do you think that there should be more consumer electronic product changes, this coming year compared to the past few years?

這真的很有幫助。然後我想問您關於消費電子產品的問題，您知道 2024 年消費電子產品連續第二年下滑，我知道您說過當第二季度收益公佈時您會有更好的見解，但我想問您，在您的幻燈片中您提到了外形尺寸的有限變化，您對這方面有什麼看法，今年與過去幾年相比，您是否認為今年應該有更多的消費電子產品變化？

So consumer electronics revenue fell 5% for Cognex last year excluding Moritex, that said, it did grow in the back half, right, so due to, project timing and some strength that we saw coming. It's really difficult and too early to call kind of Cognex's year in electronics, and I will give you more color on that at our next earnings call.

因此，康耐視去年的消費電子收入（不包括 Moritex）下降了 5％，但是，在下半年它確實實現了增長，這是由於項目時機和我們看到的一些優勢。現在判斷康耐視在電子領域的年度表現還為時過早，我將在下次財報電話會議上為您提供更多詳細資訊。

There are reasons that we feel confident that in the long run consumer electronics will be a great growth market for us and we'll continue to be. The issue is always on, when do these things occur. There are a lot of great new features planned, a lot of innovation coming, whether it's in smartphones or in wearable devices or in other electronics such as augmented reality, virtual reality type technology that, I think many of our customers are working hard to try to bring to market.

我們有理由相信，從長遠來看，消費性電子產品將成為我們一個巨大的成長市場，我們將繼續保持這一勢頭。問題始終存在，這些事情何時發生。我們計劃推出許多出色的新功能，許多創新即將面世，無論是在智慧型手機、穿戴式裝置或擴增實境、虛擬實境等其他電子產品領域，我認為我們的許多客戶都在努力將這些技術推向市場。

And if and when those are successful and need to be manufactured on a massive scale, I'm very confident that some will turn to cognics to help them do that. There's also a lot of human inspection going on in huge amounts of human inspection going on in consumer electronics manufacturing. And If I refer you to some of the comments I made in my prepared remarks earlier, our newer technology, particularly transformer technology allows us to meet the needs of some of those customers very well by allowing them to implement our technology quickly and to get great results which make the payback much faster.

如果這些方法成功並且需要大規模生產，我非常有信心有些人會求助於認知技術來幫助他們做到這一點。在消費性電子產品製造過程中，也需要進行大量人工檢查。如果我讓你參考我之前在準備好的發言中提出的一些評論，我們的新技術，特別是變壓器技術使我們能夠很好地滿足一些客戶的需求，使他們能夠快速實施我們的技術，並獲得很好的結果，從而使回報更快。

To give you a little context of that, if you think of electronics, often it's a very, very rapid scaling up in a relatively short period of manufacturing at huge scales. So this technology in that market, I think, can be very valuable and I think is already being seen to be so by some of our customers in the space. So that's kind of the overview, but to give you a direct answer to your question, too soon to say let's regroup here in about 13 weeks.

為了給你一些背景信息，如果你考慮電子產品，它通常可以在相對較短的時間內非常非常迅速地實現大規模生產。因此，我認為該技術在該市場非常有價值，而且我認為我們在該領域的一些客戶已經看到了這一點。這就是概述，但為了直接回答你的問題，現在說還為時過早，我們將在大約 13 週後重新集結。

Understood, really appreciate your thoughts. Best of luck out there.

明白了，非常感謝您的想法。祝你好運。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員指令）

Tommy Mull, Stevens.

湯米·穆爾、史蒂文斯。

Good morning and thank you for taking my questions.

早上好，感謝您回答我的問題。

Hey, Tommy.

嘿，湯米。

Hey, Tommy.

嘿，湯米。

Rob, I want to start on logistics and ask what insight you can provide there on the breadth of the strength, whether that's in terms of the geographies, the subverticals, I'm thinking e-commerce versus parcel perhaps. And then the durability of this strength. I mean there were multiple quarters there where I guess we were in an absorption phase for a lot of the capacity built out during the pandemic. Does it feel like we're solidly back into a period where we need more capacity, or how would you situate us?

羅布，我想從物流開始，我想問您能就實力的廣度提供什麼見解，無論是從地域角度，還是從子垂直角度，我想也許是電子商務與包裹。然後是這種力量的持久性。我的意思是，我想在多個季度裡，我們都處於吸收階段，以吸收疫情期間建立的許多產能。我們是否感覺又回到了需要更多產能的時期，或者您如何定位我們？

Yeah, Tom, I think you're right in pointing out that, we saw our logistics business peak in 2021 where, there was huge investment and then we've been through a period of absorbing that investment and then we're now back to a period of growth, logistics business grew 20% year on year last year with strength really, across pretty much everywhere, right? US, Europe, other Asia. And then as we look in terms of customer tiers, I would say, we made good progress in base logistics seeing some nice growth in that space. We've made great progress with very large e-commerce players.

是的，湯姆，我認為你說得對，我們的物流業務在 2021 年達到頂峰，當時有巨大的投資，然後我們經歷了一段吸收投資的時期，現在我們又回到了增長期，去年物流業務同比增長 20%，幾乎所有地方都表現強勁，對吧？美國、歐洲、其他亞洲國家。然後，當我們從客戶層級的角度來看時，我想說，我們在基礎物流方面取得了良好的進展，並且在該領域實現了良好的成長。我們與大型電子商務公司的合作已經取得了巨大進展。

And then, as you might expect, a sort of a group more large customers, some of whom didn't grow with us last year and others of them did, specifically in the US a couple of customers who I think are struggling with their own retail supply chain and execution of various things, so didn't put up growth, but that's those are really very few exceptions to what is a very broad and underlying return to growth.

然後，正如你可能預料到的那樣，有一群更大的客戶，其中一些去年沒有與我們一起成長，而另一些則實現了成長，特別是在美國，有幾個客戶，我認為他們在自己的零售供應鏈和各種事務的執行方面遇到了困難，所以沒有實現增長，但這些只是非常廣泛和潛在的增長回報中的極少數。

We're positive, very positive about our logistics business and what we're seeing happening. We do see more capacity being added. We do see a lot of technology being invested in this industry, whether it is vision technology and certainly beyond barcode reading, which is a very difficult thing. We do very well, but there's much more to be done, and we're seeing more and more traction. With that new customer activity is strong. We're bringing more, data management with our edge intelligence platform, to this space. And then, as you rightly note, the pole and post sector is an area we see growth in. I did spend a lot of last week in Europe visiting a lot of parcel and posts businesses in that space.

我們對我們的物流業務以及目前的發展持非常積極的態度。我們確實看到有更多的產能被增加。我們確實看到很多技術被投入到這個行業，無論是視覺技術還是條碼讀取技術，這都是一件非常困難的事情。我們做得很好，但還有很多工作要做，而且我們看到了越來越多的動力。新客戶的活動非常活躍。我們將利用邊緣智慧平台為這個領域帶來更多的資料管理。然後，正如您正確指出的那樣，電線桿和柱子行業是我們看到的成長領域。上週我確實花了很多時間在歐洲參觀那裡的許多包裹和郵政業務。

I would say, they're not overly enthusiastic about the investment environment in parcel and post, currently, but I don't think that it is going to be, a headwind to our opportunity to grow in that space. These are really newer customers for us, newer technologies, so we're coming off a low base and we have a lot to offer, but it's worth keeping in mind some of those and post companies have five year capital spending plans that, we've been starting to muscle in on now for a number of years and we'll play out, I think over time.

我想說，他們目前對包裹和郵政領域的投資環境並不太熱衷，但我不認為這會成為我們在該領域發展機會的阻力。對於我們來說，這些確實是較新的客戶，較新的技術，因此我們的基礎較低，可以提供很多東西，但值得注意的是，其中一些公司和郵政公司有五年資本支出計劃，我們已經開始努力實施這些計劃很多年了，我想我們會隨著時間的推移而發揮作用。

Another thing to point out, of course, is geographic expansion is exciting for us the highest growth rates we see and would expect to see are markets outside the US, where we have strong penetration. It's really more in markets where they're really starting to really drive e-commerce fulfillment and spend significantly on a consumer base that's becoming wealthier and spending more money online, and I'm thinking of markets like India and Indonesia where we're making some great progress.

當然，還有一點要指出的是，地理擴張對我們來說是令人興奮的，我們看到的和期望看到的最高成長率是美國以外的市場，我們在這些市場具有很強的滲透力。事實上，更多的是在那些他們真正開始推動電子商務實現並在變得越來越富裕、在網上花費更多的消費者群體上投入大量資金的市場，我想到的是印度和印度尼西亞這樣的市場，我們在那裡取得了一些重大進展。

Thank you, Rob. As a follow up, and perhaps this is for Dennis, I wanted to ask about what you would highlight for us in terms of OpEx discipline, Dennis. So you've sketched the contours previously on the level of investment for the emerging customer initiatives, so I'm thinking elsewhere in the OpEx budget, what can you highlight us whether quantifying or just speaking qualitatively about a philosophy on cost management there. Thank you.

謝謝你，羅布。作為後續問題，也許這是給丹尼斯的，我想問一下，在 OpEx 紀律方面您會為我們強調什麼，丹尼斯。所以，您之前已經勾勒出了新興客戶計劃的投資水平輪廓，所以我在考慮營運支出預算的其他方面，您能否向我們強調一下，無論是量化還是僅僅定性地談論那裡的成本管理理念。謝謝。

Yeah, no, absolutely happy to do that. I think, as we said in our prepared remark, we're very focused on tight cost management and keep on looking for areas where we can drive efficiencies throughout the organization. And I think a positive thing I really would like to highlight is that that we invested successfully into our emerging customer initiative into the sales transformation last year. But at the same time, our OpEx year over year for the full year grew by 6% and revenue grew 9%. So that means OpEx growth was below the the revenue growth in 2024. Maybe to help you think a bit about 2025, what we expect is that we will keep the OpEx growth also below the revenue growth in 2025.

是的，不，我非常樂意這麼做。我認為，正如我們在準備好的演講中所說的那樣，我們非常注重嚴格的成本管理，並不斷尋找可以提高整個組織效率的領域。我認為我真正想強調的一件積極的事情是，去年我們成功地對新興客戶計畫進行了投資，實現了銷售轉型。但同時，我們全年營運支出較去年同期成長 6%，營收成長 9%。這意味著 2024 年的營運支出成長將低於收入成長。也許為了幫助您思考 2025 年，我們預計到 2025 年，營運支出成長也將低於收入成長。

Thank you, Dennis. I'll turn it.

謝謝你，丹尼斯。我會轉它。

Andrew Pascalia, BNP Paribas.

法國巴黎銀行的安德魯·帕斯卡利亞。

Hey, good morning guys.

嘿，大家早安。

Good morning, Andrew.

早安，安德魯。

Good morning, Andrew.

早安，安德魯。

I just want to get an update into the year end on the on the merchant customer initiative terms of your expectations. It seems like it's going well, and do you care to to provide any context around incremental revenue from the strategy going forward, maybe in '25?

我只是想了解一下您對年底商家客戶計畫條款的期望。看起來一切進展順利，您能否提供有關該策略未來（例如在 25 年）的增量收入的任何背景資訊？

Yeah, thanks. So, yeah, I think you characterize it well, this has been a major initiative for Cognex. We've onboarded and got up to, improve the productivity of a large first cohort of, emerging customer sales people. Their performance in Q4, I think was in line or better than what we had, expected and communicated to you at the last call. They've completed over 80,000 customer visits in 2024, adding over 3,000 customers, achieving a bookings right around $1 million a week.

是的，謝謝。是的，我認為你描述得很好，這對康耐視來說是一項重大舉措。我們已經加入並開始提高第一批新興客戶銷售人員的工作效率。我認為他們在第四季度的表現符合或優於我們在上次通話中預期和向您傳達的水平。他們在 2024 年完成了超過 80,000 次客戶訪問，增加了超過 3,000 名客戶，每週的預訂金額達到約 100 萬美元。

And then referring significant business to the rest of our sales team that's turning into, larger and more sophisticated opportunities for customers. So we're really, starting to see much better penetration of the market, but this is just the beginning, right? And we hired the second cohort, as we went through last year, and they're now entering the field.

然後將重要的業務轉介給我們銷售團隊的其他成員，從而為客戶帶來更大、更複雜的機會。因此，我們確實開始看到市場滲透率大大提高，但這只是個開始，對嗎？正如我們去年所做的那樣，我們僱用了第二批員工，現在他們正在進入該領域。

And they're going to really help us expand our sales coverage. So, I think we can sort of be cut and pasting the numbers we saw with the first cohort, but hopefully doing better because we're getting better and we're understanding how to do this more. And then I would say, I think as I communicated, we've adjusted how we're managing them and what we're doing based on what we've learned. And so they're better integrated with our existing sales force, now and so better able to cover accounts, some larger accounts where we've been really under penetrated. They're making more calls on different customer profiles within those large accounts.

他們確實會幫助我們擴大銷售覆蓋範圍。因此，我認為我們可以剪下並貼上我們在第一批中看到的數字，但希望做得更好，因為我們正在變得更好，並且我們更多地了解如何做到這一點。然後我想說，我認為，正如我所溝通的那樣，我們已經根據所學到的知識調整了我們的管理方式和所做的事情。這樣，他們現在可以更好地與我們現有的銷售團隊整合，從而能夠更好地覆蓋帳戶，尤其是一些我們尚未充分覆蓋的較大帳戶。他們正在針對這些大帳戶中不同的客戶資料撥打更多電話。

And then we're also, you're giving them really great new technology and I think the best example would be the DataMan 290 and 390 series that is now in their hands great AI technology that's easy to sell and easy to use, and this salesforce was designed with technology like that in mind, so that's our our playbook that we will continue to iterate on with as we go through future cohorts.

然後，我們還會為他們提供非常棒的新技術，我認為最好的例子就是 DataMan 290 和 390 系列，現在他們手中掌握著這項偉大的人工智慧技術，易於銷售和易於使用，而這支銷售隊伍在設計時就考慮到了這樣的技術，所以這是我們的劇本，我們將在未來的群體中繼續迭代。

I think in terms of other things, the business that we're winning is has over 75% gross margin. So it's again as we expected, in that regard. Then, yeah, so, you ask about 2025 and I think we're going to see, that continue, our progress continue and we've got the metrics and the way to manage it and, we continue to be pleased.

我認為就其他方面而言，我們贏得的業務的毛利率超過 75％。因此從這個方面來看，這再次符合我們的預期。是的，所以，你問到 2025 年，我想我們會看到，這種情況會繼續，我們的進步會繼續，我們有指標和管理方法，我們會繼續感到高興。

And maybe just to add on that to your specific question on the incremental side. We've been talking in the last earnings call and Rob said also, just before that, we really integrated that the sales noise, the entry level sales noise into the larger sales organization and let them go to also to existing customers in that regard. We're not really able to give you like a number. Here's what is incremental, like Rob said, we, we're tracking their bookings metrics and other sales efficiency KPIs very closely. But just that one particular question, we just can't answer you in that way. So I hope that gives you a bit more color to that as well.

也許只是為了補充你關於增量方面的具體問題。我們在上次財報電話會議上一直在討論，Rob 也表示，就在這之前，我們確實將銷售噪音、入門級銷售噪音整合到了更大的銷售組織中，並讓它們也面向現有客戶。我們確實無法給您一個確切的數字。正如 Rob 所說，這就是增量，我們正在密切追蹤他們的預訂指標和其他銷售效率 KPI。但對於那個特定問題，我們無法以那種方式回答您。所以我希望這也能帶給你更多的理解。

Okay, and what are the -- what are you guided to gross margins in the high 60s and what are the biggest levers there that could provide some tailwind to the margins going above 70% again? Is it is really this volume coming back or can this emerging customer initiative have an impact in '25 on gross margins already?

好的，您預計毛利率將達到 60% 以上，哪些最大的槓桿可以為利潤率再次超過 70% 提供一些推動力？這是銷量真正回升了嗎？

I'll kick off, at a high level, but then I'll throw it to Dennis to give you more details. So, the wonder of Cognex is, implementing great technology to, factory automation and and and and logistics, we've got a lot of great technology coming and the DataMan 290 is an example of that for sure, and then all the sales force that we have now in the field making. Tens of thousands of sales, close to sell it, should be, a tailwind for us, as we move forward.

我會先從高層開始，然後我會把話題交給丹尼斯，讓他提供你更多細節。康耐視的奇妙之處在於，它將偉大的技術應用到工廠自動化和物流中，我們已獲得許多偉大的技術，DataMan 290 就是其中的一個例子，此外，我們所有的銷售人員都致力於該領域的發展。數萬的銷量，接近銷售量，應該會成為我們前進的順風。

And then, there is certainly a volume story, and I, where, we've seen volumes not growing anywhere near our expectations over the last few years. We, we've built an infrastructure ready to supply a much larger business. And, as that business comes, and as markets recover, certainly the fall through on incremental revenue should be high.

然後，肯定有一個數量故事，而我發現，過去幾年中，數量增長遠未達到我們的預期。我們已經建立了基礎設施，可以為更大規模的企業提供服務。而且，隨著業務的發展和市場的復甦，增量收入的下降幅度肯定會很大。

Right. And, might be guided for the first quarter to the high 60s, so pretty much in line to what we have, guided previously. So in the near term, it's certainly some effects that you have strong growth in logistics, which typically is, slightly dilutive to the gross margins. So there's a bit of a mixed headwind on that side. Certainly, the growth in logistics has a fantastic flow through to the bottom line.

正確的。並且，第一季的預期可能會達到 60 多美元，與我們先前的預期基本一致。因此，在短期內，物流的強勁成長肯定會產生一些影響，這通常會稍微稀釋毛利率。因此，這方面存在一些好壞參半的逆風。當然，物流的成長對利潤產生了巨大的影響。

You've seen you look back at Q4 with coming out at the high end of the revenue range, we had a nice earnings speed in that regard. If you think about the logistics impact to the total P&L, very positive on the bottom line, but certainly in the near slight headwind towards gross margin. But then as Rob said, in the long term the sales transformation, sales expansion of coverage is a nice measure to bring up gross margin with the incremental or the accretive gross margin we're getting from that initiatives. We have strong leverage also in terms of using the infrastructure. We have a new NPI right we talked in in the prepared remarks about like the DM 290, for example, that product family. So there are really areas where we can drive gross margin increases and that's really what we'll be focused on in the mid to long term.

回顧第四季度，我們已經看到了收入範圍的高端，在這方面我們獲得了不錯的獲利速度。如果您考慮物流對總損益表的影響，那麼對底線而言是非常積極的，但對毛利率而言肯定會略有阻力。但正如羅布所說，從長遠來看，銷售轉型、銷售覆蓋範圍的擴大是一個很好的措施，可以透過我們從這些舉措中獲得的增量或增值毛利率來提高毛利率。在利用基礎設施方面我們也擁有強大的影響力。我們有一個新的 NPI 權利，我們在準備好的評論中談到了像 DM 290 這樣的產品系列。因此，我們確實有一些可以提高毛利率的領域，這也是我們中長期關注的重點。

Yeah, thank you.

是的，謝謝。

Jamie Cook, True Securities.

傑米庫克 (Jamie Cook)，True Securities。

Hi, good morning. I guess two questions. One, Rob, just on the, total market serve the $6.5 billion that you guys have put out there, just wondering, understanding you probably. Feel comfortable with that number. I'm just wondering if perhaps as you're thinking going forward do we pivot which and markets we want to focus on perhaps markets that are less cyclical like, automotive or consumer electronics maybe focusing more on, medical or or other markets so that I just get your sales over time can be less cyclical versus some of the markets that you focus on so wondering if it'll be a pivot there over time.

嗨，早安。我想有兩個問題。第一，羅布，只是關於你們已經投入的 65 億美元的整個市場，我只是想知道，可能理解你的意思。對這個數字感到滿意。我只是想知道，也許正如您在考慮未來時所說的那樣，我們是否會將重點轉向那些週期性較小的市場，例如汽車或消費電子產品，也許會更多地關注醫療或其他市場，這樣我就可以知道，隨著時間的推移，您的銷售額相對於您關注的一些市場而言，週期性會降低，所以我想知道隨著時間的推移，它是否會發生轉變。

And then I guess my second question, obviously you're still sitting with a very strong balance sheet sitting in, net cash with more techs behind you. I'm just wondering, what your appetite is or the environment is for, acquisitions in 2025 relative to where we sat in 2024. Thank you.

然後我想我的第二個問題是，顯然您的資產負債表仍然非常強勁，淨現金充足，背後還有更多的技術支援。我只是想知道，相對於 2024 年的情況，您對 2025 年的收購興趣或環境如何。謝謝。

Yeah, thank you. Let me talk about, our markets and how we think about that and volatility and opportunity within them first and then I'll ask Dennis to address, the second part of your question about capital. So, we'll give you an update on our view of our serve markets in June at the Analyst Day. I'm -- I think, look forward to sharing that with you and our view about how we expand them. Obviously, we did expand with the acquisition of Moritex, and there's adjacencies and other markets we're moving into that where, we see opportunities to grow that services market, and we'll give you more color on on that.

是的，謝謝。首先，讓我談談我們的市場以及我們如何看待市場及其波動性和機遇，然後我會請丹尼斯回答你關於資本的問題的第二部分。因此，我們將在六月的分析師日上向您介紹我們對所服務市場的看法。我想，我期待與你們分享這一點以及我們對如何擴展它們的看法。顯然，我們透過收購 Moritex 實現了擴張，而且我們正在進入相鄰市場和其他市場，我們看到了發展服務市場的機會，我們將為您提供更多有關這方面的資訊。

In terms of kind of, where our interests lie and kind of where -- how to think about volatility within those markets. We see our logistics market is still our largest served market and the one we expect to grow fastest. Now that was true when we last gave you an update and it's still true today very much that there are exciting growth markets for us, and what continues to be a great focus of innovation and investment, and so that's that's exciting and witness the modular vision tunnel the progress we're making with possible and host companies, a great success with the technology leaders in that space, and we think that has a long way to run.

就我們的興趣所在以及如何看待這些市場的波動而言。我們看到，物流市場仍然是我們服務規模最大的市場，也是我們預期成長最快的市場。上次我們向您提供最新消息時確實如此，今天仍然如此，對我們來說，存在著令人興奮的增長市場，並且繼續成為創新和投資的重點，因此，這是令人興奮的，並見證了模組化願景隧道我們與潛在和主辦公司取得的進展，以及與該領域的技術領導者取得的巨大成功，我們認為這還有很長的路要走。

In terms of other markets, what I would say is, I think we all understand that Cognex is highly indexed on the technology leaders and and the big leaders in the the premier customers in our markets, whether it's automotive or consumer electronics. And those tend to have more, they have tend to put more volatility into our business overall, but our emerging customer initiative really allows us to broaden our customer going from serving about 30,000 customers as we do to going down more into more mid-tier and more entry level customers and really broadening that.

就其他市場而言，我想說的是，我想我們都知道，康耐視在我們的市場上，無論是汽車還是消費性電子產品，都高度依賴技術領導者和主要客戶的大領導者。這些往往會為我們的整體業務帶來更多波動，但我們的新興客戶計畫確實使我們能夠擴大客戶範圍，從服務約 30,000 名客戶到服務更多的中端和入門級客戶，並真​​正擴大客戶範圍。

So we would expect that to take some volatility out of our business in the future and with volatility you can see that we can underperform in difficult periods and outperform as I think we did in the fourth quarter as a result of some very strong relationships we have in some very good markets, but That's not ideal in terms of running a stable business, and I think the emerging customer program, allows us to do that quite well.

因此，我們預計這將在未來消除我們業務中的一些波動，在波動的情況下，您可以看到，我們在困難時期表現不佳，但由於我們在一些非常好的市場中建立了非常牢固的關係，因此我們在第四季度表現優異，但這對於經營穩定的業務而言並不理想，我認為新興客戶計劃使我們能夠很好地做到這一點。

You asked about other markets, medical, in a big bag of bag of medical businesses including, pharmaceutical life science, medical device representing about 10% of our business overall. Those markets haven't been good, over the last few years since COVID. I'm confident I think everyone is that they will return to growth, and that's the type of market again where we will be having much more sales activity as a result of our emerging customer salesforce and much more appropriate products for the level of technical expertise that those industries have to adopt them.

您詢問了其他市場，醫療，在一大堆醫療業務中，包括製藥生命科學、醫療設備，這些占我們整體業務的 10% 左右。自從新冠疫情以來，過去幾年這些市場表現一直不太好。我相信每個人都會恢復成長，這將是我們再次擁有更多銷售活動的市場，這是因為我們的新興客戶銷售團隊和更適合這些行業所採用的技術專業水平的產品。

So I would expect over time that we would see smaller markets packaging related medical, even aerospace markets where we've been very under penetrated, but we're seeing some nice progress in terms of activity and as those markets recover, hopefully a broader base of customers with less volatility.

因此，我預計，隨著時間的推移，我們會看到較小的市場包裝相關的醫療，甚至航空航天市場，這些市場我們一直滲透不足，但我們在活動方面看到了一些良好的進展，隨著這些市場的複蘇，希望能夠擁有更廣泛的客戶群，波動性更小。

Let me take it from here in regards to the M&A question. Maybe I'll start first with a quick summary of the overall capital strategy and then talk a bit more about M&A specifically. So overall capital strategy. I've been always saying like our number one area is our organic investments, think about like the sales transformation and sales expansion, which we're investing into.

讓我就此談談有關併購的問題。也許我會先快速總結整體資本策略，然後再具體談談併購。所以是整體資本策略。我一直在說，我們的首要領域是有機投資，想想我們正在投資的銷售轉型和銷售擴張。

And second comes M&A. Third, share buybacks. And fourth, the dividends. It's kind of the order of priorities means M&A quite high in that stack, and we have been coming out of the more acquisition, which I think we feel extremely positive and successful about. We we talked about how it has helped to be a creative to adjust the EPS and bring actually it up by a penny, there.

第二是併購。第三，股票回購。第四，股息。這種優先順序意味著，併購在堆疊中佔據相當高的位置，而且我們已經完成了更多的收購，我認為我們對此感到非常積極和成功。我們討論了它如何有助於有創意地調整每股收益並實際將其提高一分錢。

So in that regard. I think we made very good, success story on the more tech side, and that clearly means like that we're looking for continued M&A, but it's also clear that, we're looking for quality deals and that means we'll be, thoughtful when we're making these decisions. And, at the same time, I think, there's probably a lot further to discuss where probably doesn't have the time right now, but I'm really looking forward to continue a bit more in this conversation and our Investor Day. So we can talk then, a bit more about like, hey, what could be potential markets? How do we think about like the balance sheet in that regard. So a lot of good topics to cover there and I think we'll address these at Investor Day.

因此就這一點而言。我認為我們在技術方面取得了非常好的成功，這顯然意味著我們正在尋求持續的併購，但同樣明顯的是，我們正在尋找高品質的交易，這意味著我們在做出這些決定時會深思熟慮。同時，我認為可能還有很多事情需要討論，現在可能沒有時間，但我真的很期待在這次對話和投資者日繼續討論更多內容。那我們可以再多談談，什麼可能是潛在市場？我們如何看待這方面的資產負債表。這裡有很多很好的話題可以討論，我想我們會在投資者日討論這些問題。

Thank you, very helpful.

謝謝，非常有幫助。

Piyush Avasthy, Citi.

花旗的 Piyush Avasthy。

Hey, good morning, guys. Thanks for taking my questions.

嘿，大家早安。感謝您回答我的問題。

Hey, good morning.

嘿，早安。

So the current US administration appears to be more pro US manufacturing. Speaking with your customers across the auto or consumer electronics and markets, have you at least begun to see a step up in conversations with your customers are talking about reshaping their manufacturing footprint and maybe adopting more automation and machine vision?

因此，現任美國政府似乎更支持美國製造業。在與汽車或消費性電子市場的客戶交談時，您是否至少開始看到與客戶的對話有所進展，他們正在談論重塑製造足跡，並可能採用更多的自動化和機器視覺？

Yeah, thanks for the question. I would say there's certainly an increase of discussion and interest around that topic. No question, and I think every manufacturer in America is thinking very much about the risks and upside, associated with tariffs and other actions that are going on. I would put a little in the context though that there's just a huge amount of uncertainty and confusion. So, I think it's not that that sort of interest isn't really leading to, I think, action at the moment. It's leading to confusion and hopefully we'll see more clarity and then more actually, action.

是的，謝謝你的提問。我想說，圍繞這個主題的討論和興趣肯定有所增加。毫無疑問，我認為美國的每個製造商都在認真考慮關稅和其他正在採取的行動所帶來的風險和好處。我想稍微說明一下背景，存在著大量的不確定性和混亂。所以，我認為，並不是說這種興趣目前沒有真正引發行動。這導致了混亂，希望我們能夠看到更多的清晰度，然後實際上採取更多行動。

But maybe to give you a little context, if we think about our Q4 performance and our Q1 guidance, I think there was a lot -- quite a lot of excitement and positivity that we saw in the back end of last year, really post-election in November and December, which, did account for some higher spending, when in prior years I might have called it budget flush type spending that went on in November and December in America's really only.

但也許可以給你一些背景信息，如果我們考慮我們第四季度的表現和第一季度的指導，我認為有很多——我們看到去年年底相當多的興奮和積極情緒，特別是 11 月和 12 月的大選之後，這確實導致了一些更高的支出，而在前幾年，我可能稱之為預算充裕型支出，這種支出實際上只發生在美國的 11 月和預算充裕型支出。

I'd say -- and I might size that about $6 million to $7 million of business that I think we received in Q4 as a result of that enthusiasm that really came straight out of Q1. So I think there's that we do have FX, is, I think a worry in general for companies where, the strength of the US dollar is $5 million or so headwind for us in Q1 as well. So, and then there are a lot of policy changes, obviously, if we were -- when we were talking a year ago, there was, a lot of enthusiasm about, the Inflation Reduction Act and other things. Clearly a lot of -- there's a lot more confusion about that. So certainly that's all at at play.

我想說——我可能估計我們在第四季度獲得的業務價值約為 600 萬至 700 萬美元，這得益於第一季以來的熱情。因此，我認為我們確實存在外匯問題，我認為這對公司來說普遍是一個擔憂，美元走強會給我們在第一季帶來 500 萬美元左右的不利影響。所以，顯然會有很多政策變化，如果我們——當我們一年前談論的時候，人們對《通貨膨脹削減法案》和其他事情非常熱衷。顯然，對此存在著許多困惑。所以這肯定都是在起作用。

I do think if we see, major investment in manufacturing, and major onshoring going on in the United States, Cognex should be a major beneficiary of that given, we're our strength in this market.

我確實認為，如果我們看到美國對製造業進行大規模投資和大規模在岸外包，康耐視應該是主要受益者，因為我們在這個市場上實力雄厚。

Helpful. I was a bit late on the call, so maybe you address this, but I think you highlighted pricing challenges in the quarter, particularly competing in the China regions. Can you update us on that? Like how would you characterize the pricing environment as it doesn't seem that the demand outlook has changed much and our competitors in other regions being disciplined from a pricing standpoint or are you seeing more incidents of lowering prices to win contracts?

很有幫助。我在電話中遲到了一點，所以也許你會解決這個問題，但我認為你強調了本季度的定價挑戰，特別是在中國地區的競爭。能向我們通報一下最新情況嗎？例如，您如何描述定價環境，因為需求前景似乎沒有太大變化，而且我們在其他地區的競爭對手在定價方面也受到約束，或者您是否看到更多降低價格以贏得合約的情況？

I would say you know we've been talking for a few quarters now about the pricing dynamic in China. China certainly is an extremely competitive market for us and our customers. So I don't think there's much change to report from that situation in the last quarter compared to what we're generally seeing, but you know China is a market where there are strong and emerging competitors in our industry and to us specifically, I think everyone's been seeing this as an extremely difficult market. Some of the larger players that we see, emerging state-owned enterprises have actually been cost cutting and reducing some of their spends, so certainly they're feeling the sort of pain that we're seeing in that market.

我想說，你知道我們已經討論了幾個季度的中國定價動態。對我們和我們的客戶來說，中國無疑是一個競爭極為激烈的市場。因此，我認為與我們普遍看到的情況相比，上個季度的情況沒有太大變化，但你知道中國是一個在我們行業中存在強大和新興競爭對手的市場，特別是對我們來說，我認為每個人都認為這是一個極其困難的市場。我們看到的一些較大的參與者，新興的國有企業實際上一直在削減成本並減少部分支出，因此他們肯定會感受到我們在該市場看到的那種痛苦。

Our strategy taking a leaf out of the innovator's dilemma is we want to maintain share, and we're -- we want to maintain customers and share as we go through this in China, we have very strong technology and good gross margins, even at difficult prices. So you know we're willing to take a hit to pricing to maintain share and that's been the situation it continues to be.

我們的策略借鑒了“創新者的窘境”，即我們希望保持份額，我們希望保持客戶和份額，因為我們在中國經歷了這一切，即使在價格困難的情況下，我們也擁有非常強大的技術和良好的毛利率。所以你知道，我們願意承受定價的打擊來維持份額，而且這種情況一直持續著。

As we bring new technology to market, we're hopeful that we'll have bigger deltas that we can assert, the DataMan 290 being an example of something we might might see in that space. But I'd say, in terms of the pricing discussion, it's a very distant gross margin topic compared to some of the volume things that hit our gross margin or the the the dilution of Moritex, which we're getting to grips with and should improve also.

隨著我們將新技術推向市場，我們希望能夠獲得更大的增量，DataMan 290 就是我們可能在該領域看到的一個例子。但我想說，就定價討論而言，與影響我們毛利率的一些產量因素或 Moritex 的稀釋相比，這是一個非常遙遠的毛利率話題，我們正在努力解決這些問題，並且也應該進行改進。

Dennis, what would you add?

丹尼斯，您還有什麼要補充的嗎？

Yeah, no, absolutely. I think if you think about both 2024 as a full year or Q1, Q4 specifically, I think really the biggest topics we have seen working in the gross margins really Moritex. And then mixed effects like the strong growth of logistics and it's also very clearly that like a volume plays a big role as well. So that means we have infrastructure and fixed cost areas or higher volume or lower volume really drives leverage there. And then pricing is really the fourth item there in the stack, which is really to a lesser extent, but it's very clearly that we are seeing these dynamics and therefore want to be transparent and clear about it. What we are seeing and that's particularly in China, and I think Rob covered it well.

是的，絕對不是。我認為，如果你將 2024 年視為全年或具體到第一季、第四季度，我認為我們在毛利率方面看到的最大話題確實是 Moritex。然後還有混合效應，例如物流的強勁成長，而且很明顯，數量也發揮著重要作用。所以這意味著我們擁有基礎設施和固定成本領域，或者更高的交易量或更低的交易量確實推動了那裡的槓桿作用。然後，定價實際上是堆疊中的第四項，這實際上在較小程度上，但很明顯我們看到了這些動態，因此希望對此保持透明和清晰。我們看到的情況尤其發生在中國，我認為 Rob 對此進行了很好的報導。

Appreciate all the color.

欣賞所有的色彩。

Jacob Levinson, Melius Research.

Jacob Levinson，Melius Research。

Hi, good morning, everyone.

大家早安。

Good morning.

早安.

Good morning.

早安.

Just a -- just to attack the M&A side of things from a different angle. I know you folks have bought some really interesting machine learning assets (inaudible) before AI was cool, so to speak, has the -- as the rise of AI and the broader public consciousness, does that increase the competition for those types of deals or are they just too much for most buyers that would be looking at the things that interest you guys.

只是—只是從不同的角度來攻擊事情的併購面。我知道在人工智慧流行之前，你們就已經購買了一些非常有趣的機器學習資產（聽不清楚），可以這麼說，隨著人工智慧的興起和公眾意識的增強，這是否會增加這類交易的競爭，還是對於大多數關注你們感興趣的東西的買家來說，這太過激烈了。

So Jake, to be clear on your question, you're asking kind of, are those assets still out there? How are they kind of priced and how are we thinking about them?

所以傑克，為了清楚回答你的問題，你是在問，那些資產還在那裡嗎？它們的定價是怎樣的？

Yes, exactly.

是的，確實如此。

Yeah, so, excuse me. In the Cognex we really excel at finding the best technology for our kind of specific market, industrial machine vision with very well known. We have a great reputation and we cultivate the companies -- the small companies that we think are doing great work and (inaudible) is a great example of that, really an excellent Swiss-based company with some phenomenal engineers doing things that when we really got to understand them blew us away and we were delighted to acquire them.

是的，所以，抱歉。在康耐視，我們非常擅長為我們的特定市場尋找最佳技術，我們非常熟悉工業機器視覺。我們擁有良好的聲譽，我們培育公司——我們認為做得很好的小公司，（聽不清楚）就是一個很好的例子，這真的是一家優秀的瑞士公司，擁有一些傑出的工程師，他們所做的事情當我們真正了解他們時，讓我們大吃一驚，我們很高興收購了他們。

So I think you know that was eight years ago, I guess, and I think probably that the general investor community saw the potential for advanced technology in manufacturing. So there are a lot of companies that kind of were very heavily invested in the years following that time, that are now, I'd say kind of for sale. And so there's a lot of them to see. But a note of caution is when we really get in and look at those companies, they may have raised $50 million of capital on a business plan to have sales of $30 million now, and their sales are, 10% of that amount, and they're really more around consulting or other things. They really haven't achieved the potential that they expected so.

所以我想那是八年前的事了，我想一般投資者群體可能看到了先進技術在製造業的潛力。所以有很多公司在那之後的幾年裡投入了巨額資金，但現在，我想說，它們都準備好要出售了。因此，有很多東西可以看。但需要注意的是，當我們真正深入了解這些公司時，他們可能已經為一項商業計劃籌集了 5000 萬美元的資金，目前銷售額為 3000 萬美元，而他們的銷售額只佔該金額的 10%，而且他們實際上更多地從事諮詢或其他業務。他們確實還沒有發揮出他們所期待的潛力。

I think the valuation of those companies is not what people thought they would be five years ago. Which is an opportunity for Cognex, because some of them have good technology they haven't been able to bring to market, but certainly the kind of the the the realism of what they actually have and where they are, is one I would say is a strong theme that I would observe, overall.

我認為這些公司的估值與人們五年前的想像不一樣。這對康耐視來說是一個機會，因為他們中的一些人擁有尚未推向市場的優秀技術，但總體而言，他們實際擁有的技術以及他們所處的位置的現實性是我觀察到的一個強烈主題。

And I think it kind of underscores that to play well in our market, it's not enough to have great technology, you have to understand customers, you have to have Applic applications engineers who really understand the application, and that's where the 3,000 or so strong Cognex's that we have who are out there every day, the 30,000 customers or so with the who know some of them are the most sophisticated appliers of technology, that's great opportunities for us to take technology and apply it, which isn't quite as easy as it might appear to someone who eight years ago launched off on a plan. So I'd say that's the current state of it. My hope is that some of those really good companies and great engineering teams will join Cognex over time, and there's the potential for that to happen certainly.

我認為這在某種程度上強調了，要想在我們的市場上取得成功，光有偉大的技術是不夠的，您還必須了解客戶，還必須擁有真正了解應用的 Applic 應用工程師，而這正是我們擁有的 3,000 名左右的康耐視員工和大約 30,000 名客戶的原因，他們中的一些人是這一年中的一些技巧看起來那麼容易。所以我想說這就是目前的狀況。我希望隨著時間的推移，一些真正優秀的公司和優秀的工程團隊能夠加入康耐視，而這種情況也確實有可能發生。

Okay. I appreciate it, Rob. I'll keep it to one question today. Good luck.

好的。我很感激，羅布。今天我只問一個問題。祝你好運。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Joe Ritchie, Goldman Sachs.

高盛的喬·里奇。

Hey guys, good morning.

嘿，大家早安。

Hi, Joe.

嗨，喬。

Good morning.

早安.

So Rob, I thought your comments on infusing AI, into your tools and the fact that you now require less images to train a model were really interesting. I guess I'm just curious on one hand I can think of that as being a competitive advantage if you are, first mover in your techno technology is advanced relative to others.

所以 Rob，我認為你關於將人工智慧注入你的工具的評論以及現在需要更少的圖像來訓練模型的事實真的很有趣。我想我只是好奇，一方面，如果你的技術先驅比其他人更先進，我可以將其視為一種競爭優勢。

On the other hand, it also kind of seems like it may potentially lower the barriers to entry for additional competitors, startups, maybe Chinese competitors. I'm just curious like how do you get comfortable that you can sustain your technology advantage and this isn't just going to, increase competition for your for your end markets.

另一方面，它似乎也可能降低其他競爭對手、新創公司甚至中國競爭對手的進入門檻。我只是好奇，您如何保持自己的技術優勢，而這不僅僅是增加您的終端市場的競爭。

Yeah, that's a great question, Joe. Thanks so much for it. It is both a great opportunity and a potential threat for Cognex, there's no doubt about that. The technology is allowing us to do things for customers very quickly and very well that we and they couldn't do before, and it'll spread the technology more broadly within existing customers, and that's very exciting.

是的，喬，這個問題問得非常好。非常感謝。這對康耐視來說既是一個巨大的機遇，也是潛在的威脅，這一點毫無疑問。這項技術使我們能夠非常快速、出色地為客戶完成以前我們和他們無法做到的事情，而且它將在現有客戶中更廣泛地傳播這項技術，這是非常令人興奮的。

And here it's worth pointing out that there's a lot of kind of great public technology from Silicon Valley kind of coming out of companies, but that technology isn't ready for industrial application, and there's a lot of expertise we have in taking publicly available models and applying them and really making them work. They don't work well when just applied, even with experienced programmers to our industry without deep domain and technology and customer knowledge that we have.

這裡值得指出的是，矽谷有很多優秀的公共技術來自公司，但這些技術還沒有準備好進行工業應用，我們在採用公開可用的模型、應用它們並真正使它們發揮作用方面擁有豐富的專業知識。即使對於我們這個行業經驗豐富的程式設計師來說，它們在剛應用時也無法很好地發揮作用，儘管他們並不具備深厚的領域、技術和客戶知識。

I think, where this technology is also really both -- very exciting for us, but also will change our industry is it's making machine vision much easier to apply and implement, right? And you can really see that we're leading in that space as a result of, applying technology and edge learning. Deep learning went to edge learning and transformer models are in a way, a future that's to almost no learning, right? And that is something that we do extremely well. Leading the industry, but it will change the sale and it will change who we sell to and how we sell and what we provide for them. Less application engineering, more pure technology that they can implement.

我認為，這項技術確實對我們來說非常令人興奮，同時也將改變我們的產業，使機器視覺更容易應用和實施，對嗎？您可以真正看到，透過應用技術和邊緣學習，我們在該領域處於領先地位。深度學習轉向邊緣學習，而變換模型在某種程度上，未來幾乎沒有學習，對嗎？這是我們做得非常出色的事情。引領產業，但它將改變銷售，也將改變我們的銷售對象、銷售方式以及我們為他們提供的產品。更少的應用工程，更多的是他們可以實現的純技術。

I would say I'm pretty optimistic about what that means for Cognex in the next few years. I don't -- I think this, the technology that you're seeing coming out of Silicon Valley is still going to be too hard to apply really to our customers and the people who are going to apply it first are going to be us, and we're going to see it kind of. Driving and that's you know I also feel really good about the emerging customer sales force we're putting in place. You can just get that technology out to so many more users and sell it much more quickly than we have before.

我想說，我對未來幾年康耐視的發展非常樂觀。我不這麼認為——我認為，你所看到的來自矽谷的技術仍然很難真正應用於我們的客戶，而第一個應用它的人將是我們，我們將會看到它。駕駛，你知道，我對我們正在建立的新興客戶銷售團隊感到非常滿意。你可以將該技術推廣給更多的用戶，並且比以前更快地銷售出去。

So that's the overall picture, but we're a technology company. The business is always the technology is getting better and faster and easier to use. Prices come down, applications expand, new markets appear. It's wild and wooly and fun business, and we've been doing it for 43 years and we're going to go on taking those same principles that have made us successful to this new revolution.

這就是整體情況，但我們是一家科技公司。業務總是不斷改進，技術也變得越來越好，越來越快，越來越容易使用。價格下降，應用範圍擴大，新市場出現。這是一項瘋狂、複雜而又充滿樂趣的事業，我們已經做了 43 年，我們將繼續把那些使我們成功的那些原則運用到這場新的革命中。

Thank you, Rob. I'll keep it there.

謝謝你，羅布。我會把它放在那裡。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Thanks.

謝謝。

Ken Newman, Key Bank Capital Markets.

肯‧紐曼 (Ken Newman)，Key Bank Capital Markets。

This is Katie Fleischer on for Ken. I'll keep it short here. I just was wondering how you're positioning for tariffs and any potential margin impacts from those if another trade war materializes?

這是凱蒂·弗萊舍 (Katie Fleischer) 代替肯 (Ken)。我在這裡就長話短說吧。我只是想知道，如果另一場貿易戰爆發，您對關稅的定位是什麼？

Yes, happy to take that. I would say the headline statement here is that based on the tariffs that have been announced so far, there's no material impact to CapEx and direct on the COGS side. So certainly, things are uncertain, right? More tariffs may come, but in general of what is announced so far, no direct impact.

是的，很高興接受這個。我想說的是，這裡的標題聲明是，根據迄今為止宣布的關稅，這對資本支出和直接銷售成本沒有重大影響。所以當然，事情是不確定的，對嗎？可能會推出更多關稅，但就目前宣布的措施而言，總體而言，不會產生直接影響。

Then of course, there could be a secondary impact from the tariffs, right? So in the near term, again, there's this uncertainty we talked about like we have seen a lot of positive momentum in the November, December time frame and that has shifted towards more near-term uncertainty in some of our customer side. Think about the automotive supply chain across Mexico, Canada and the US. So that's not necessarily helpful.

當然，關稅可能會產生次生影響，對嗎？因此，在短期內，我們再次談到了這種不確定性，就像我們在 11 月和 12 月期間看到了很多積極的勢頭，而這已經轉向了我們一些客戶方面的近期不確定性。想想墨西哥、加拿大和美國的汽車供應鏈。所以不一定有幫助。

But then if you think about it in the mid and longer term, the reshoring opportunity for Cognex is tremendous. So it means if that is really starting to happen, then there's a tremendous additional market upside for us.

但如果從中期和長期考慮，康耐視的回流機會是巨大的。所以這意味著，如果這種情況真的開始發生，那麼我們將獲得巨大的額外市場優勢。

Great. Thank you. I'll leave it there.

偉大的。謝謝。我就把它留在那裡。

Jairam Nathan of Daiwa.

大和的 Jairam Nathan。

Hi, thanks for squeezing me in here. So I just wanted to go back to your Moritex acquisition. I think when you made the acquisition, the objectives were expanding beyond Japan and using more of Moritex optics into Cognex equipment. So I just wanted to kind of understand how it was done in the year, what's the progress? And I just had one more question, please.

你好，謝謝你擠我來這裡。所以我只是想回顧一下你對 Moritex 的收購。我認為你們進行收購的目的是擴大日本以外的市場，並將更多的 Moritex 光學元件應用到康耐視設備中。所以我只是想了解今年的情況如何，進展如何？我還有一個問題。

Yeah, great. We're about a year and a quarter into owning Moritex, and we're very pleased with how we're taking that technology and selling it to our existing customers. That's one way in which we can increase gross margin and grow our business. So that's kind of awesome. We're taking that technology to many customers, which -- because they were very much primarily a Japanese-focused business. We're globalizing it for them. And then you're going to see more and more of it integrated into our core products. So it's a lot of good progress and increasing excitement around that.

是的，很棒。我們收購 Moritex 已有大約一年零四分之一的時間，我們對於如何利用這項技術並將其銷售給現有客戶感到非常滿意。這是我們提高毛利率和發展業務的一種方式。這真是太棒了。我們正在將這項技術推廣給許多客戶，因為他們的業務主要集中在日本。我們正在幫助他們實現全球化。然後你會看到它越來越多地融入我們的核心產品中。因此，這是很多好的進展，人們對此越來越興奮。

Do you need to do any validation like would it does it take longer, to kind of get into you to get more Moritex components into the products, is that a bottleneck or something or?

您是否需要進行任何驗證，例如是否需要更長的時間才能將更多的 Moritex 組件放入產品中，這是否是一個瓶頸還是什麼？

It's something we're very used to doing. It's very sophisticated. We got PhD photonics people and optics people who work on that. But we're very comfortable and we know how to do it.

這是我們非常習慣去做的事情。它非常複雜。我們擁有從事該領域研究的光子學博士和光學博士。但我們對此感到很自在，而且我們知道如何做。

Okay. And just finally, some of the logistics companies seem to be, especially on the parcel side, seem to be -- like they're talking about moving from -- moving to sensing from scanning. I just wanted to understand how would that impact Cognex if that trend kind of continues? I just want to understand it could be good for you. I just want to understand that.

好的。最後，一些物流公司，特別是在包裹方面，似乎正在談論從掃描轉向感應。我只是想了解，如果這種趨勢持續下去，會對康耐視產生什麼影響？我只是想了解這對你是否有益。我只是想了解這一點。

Sure. I'll keep my answer brief. But today, kind of the bar code is being the defining way in which packages are identified. I don't expect that to change. But certainly, there is the opportunity to have more package recognition using machine vision on it, right?

當然。我的回答將簡短一些。但今天，條碼已經成為了包裹識別的決定性方式。我並不認為這種情況會改變。但可以肯定的是，我們有機會利用機器視覺來實現更多的包裝識別，對嗎？

And some packages are complicated, and being able to use vision to inspect them, something we're extremely good, is somewhere that our customers would like to go. And it's certainly a journey we're enjoying exploring with them.

有些包裝非常複雜，能夠使用視覺來檢查它們，這是我們非常擅長的技術，也是我們的客戶樂意採用的技術。我們當然很樂意和他們一起探索這段旅程。

Okay, thank you.

好的，謝謝。

Thank you. This brings us to the end of the question and answer session. I would like to turn the floor back over to Mr. Rob Willett for closing comments.

謝謝。問答環節到此結束。我想將發言權交還給羅布·威利特先生，請他作最後評論。

Well, thank you so much for joining us this morning. I enjoyed the discussion and we look forward to speaking with you again on next quarter's call.

好吧，非常感謝您今天早上加入我們。我很享受這次討論，我們期待在下個季度的電話會議上再次與您交談。

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your participation and interest in Cognex Corporation. This concludes today's event. You may disconnect your lines or log off the webcast at this time and enjoy the rest of your day.

女士們、先生們，感謝你們對康耐視公司的參與與關注。今天的活動到此結束。您可以立即斷開線路或退出網路廣播，享受剩餘的一天。