APRIL 24--Cognex Corporation (Natick, MA; www.cognex.com) has announced revenue for the first quarter ended March 31, 2002, of $21,780,000, a decrease of 51% from the $44,206,000 reported for the first quarter of 2001 and a decrease of 13% from the $25,170,000 reported for the prior quarter. Cognex reported a loss for the first quarter ended March 31, 2002, of $2,520,000, or $0.06 per diluted share, compared to net income of $4,761,000, or $0.11 per diluted share, in the comparable quarter a year ago and to a loss of $20,335,000, or $0.46 per diluted share, in the prior quarter.
"Our results for the first quarter of 2002 were down significantly year-on-year due to a worldwide slowdown in capital-equipment spending by manufacturers, primarily in the semiconductor and electronics industries," said Robert J. Shillman, Cognex president, chief executive officer, and chairman. "However, both the order rate and the number of new customers in this Q1 increased on a sequential basis, leading us to believe that the worst is behind us. Looking forward to the second quarter of 2002, we expect that revenue will increase over the first quarter to between $25 million to $27 million. And, as a result, we expect that our loss will be smaller...in the range of $0.04 to $0.01 per diluted share."