MLABMesa Laboratories, Inc.
Is the business good?
A genuinely good business: earnings fully cash-backed (4.8×) and margins widening.
Operating profit is fully backed by cash. Conversion is improving vs a year ago.
Positive operating leverage, operating profit is growing faster than sales, so margins widen as the business scales.
A balanced mix of margins, efficiency, and leverage. ROE 2% = margin × turnover × leverage.
Unless marked, from derived.
Where this answer is blind. The F-score rewards improvement, so an already-elite company can score mid-pack.
How good a business is MLAB?
Mesa Laboratories, Inc. earns 7.7% on the capital it employs against a 9.0% cost of capital, so growth costs more than it returns.
Return on invested capital · cost of capital 9.0% · 1.3 points below what the capital costs: growth destroys value
- Operating margin
- 9.0%
Operating margin · Scientific & Technical Instruments median 16% · 12 months to Q1 2027
- Cash conversion
- 4.83×
Cash conversion · 3.48× a year ago · operating cash flow covers the operating profit after tax
- Share count, year on year
- +3.7%
Share count, year on year · shareholders own a smaller slice than a year ago
| Year | Operating margin |
|---|---|
| FY2021 | 9.2% |
| FY2022 | 2.5% |
| FY2023 | 1.5% |
| FY2024 | −126% |
| FY2025 | 6.8% |
| FY2026 | 7.4% |
Details›
- Gross margin12 months to Q1 2027
- 64%
- Operating margin12 months to Q1 2027
- 9.0%
- Net margin12 months to Q1 2027
- 1.9%
- Free cash flow margin
- 21%
- R&D as % of revenue
- 8.0%
- Revenue, trailing twelve months
- $250M
- Free cash flow, trailing twelve months
- $53M
- Net income, trailing twelve months
- $4.8M
- Return on invested capitaloperating profit after tax ÷ debt + equity − cash
- 7.7%
Margins, capital and share counts from the statements as filed with the SEC; cash conversion is operating cash flow over operating profit after tax.
Scientific & Technical Instruments
Ranks #11 of 12 by RyuScore