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Robots are weathering the coronavirus pandemic better than many these days. Recent robot-maker earnings illustrate the point.

Teradyne (ticker: TER) and ABB (ABB) both crushed second-quarter numbers. ABB shares, which trade overseas as well as in the U.S., are up 3.9% in recent trading. Teradyne stock rose 4% in after-hours trading Tuesday, following the companys earnings release. Its down 0.7% in recent trading.

Teradyne makes equipment to test semiconductors, but the company also sells cobots, short for collaborative robots. which are designed to work along humans, as well as autonomously guided vehicles for warehouses and manufacturing plants.

ABB is a Swiss giant, selling huge robotic arms to industry as well as other products. The company also sells controllers and software that integrate and control automation equipment on the factory floor.

Teradyne reported $1.33 in per-share earnings, above the highest end of the guidance range the company gave to analysts. Whats more, management guided to about $1.10 in per-share earnings for the third quarter. The Street estimates only about 64 cents in per-share earnings.

ABB, for its part, reported 22 cents in per-share earnings. Analysts expected 10 cents.

Industrial automation is one reason earnings remain strong at the companies. At Teradyne, automation sales increased throughout the second quarter, despite the fact that many industrial customers were struggling to stay open in the second quarter.

Industrial Automation sales, while down from the year ago period due to the global slowdown in business activity, improved monthly through the quarter, said Teradyne CEO Mark Jagiela in the companys news release.

At ABB, robot sales actually fell in the second quarter. The company sells a lot of those huge industrial robots to the automotive industry, which is struggling with lower volumes during the pandemic. Covid-19, however, is also accelerating trends benefiting the company.

We see more connected robots than weve ever seen before.... This is a drive that [our robotics division] have done also to make it easy to access, but also to monitor the robots externally, said CEO Bjrn Klas Otto Rosengren on the companys earnings conference call. There is a lot of discussions regarding digital solutions at the moment.... We feel pretty comfortable that the trend will accelerate.

Citigroup analyst Andrew Kaplowitz upgraded automation peer Rockwell Automation (ROK) to the equivalent of Buy from Hold Tuesday, raising his price target to a Street-high $252 a share. He cited accelerating factory automation trends, driven by reshoring and potential labor cost savings, in his report.

Reshoringbringing back manufacturing capacity to the U.S.is gaining steam, according to Kaplowitz, because of the multiple supply-chain disruptions that swept the globe as the pandemic spread to different places at different times.

Investors have taken some notice. Teradyne stock is still up about 31% year to date, far better than comparable returns of the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average, despite giving back the after-hours stock gains.

ABB shares are up about 7% year to date. And Rockwell shares are up some 11% year to date.

Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com

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Robots Are Having a Good Pandemic - Barron's