Is the business good?
How good a business is NOVT?
Novanta Inc. earns 6.0% on the capital it employs against a 9.0% cost of capital, so growth costs more than it returns.
6.0%
Return on invested capital · cost of capital 9.0% · 2.9 points below what the capital costs: growth destroys value
- Operating margin
- 8.9%
Operating margin · Scientific & Technical Instruments median 17% · 12 months to Q1 2026
- Cash conversion
- 1.27×
Cash conversion · 2.02× a year ago · every dollar of reported profit arrived as cash, and more
- Share count, year on year
- +14%
Share count, year on year · shareholders own a smaller slice than a year ago
| Year | Operating margin |
|---|---|
| FY2020 | 9.5% |
| FY2021 | 9.1% |
| FY2022 | 12% |
| FY2023 | 13% |
| FY2024 | 12% |
| FY2025 | 9.6% |
Details›
- Gross margin12 months to Q1 2026
- 44%
- Operating margin12 months to Q1 2026
- 8.9%
- Net margin12 months to Q1 2026
- 5.3%
- Free cash flow margin
- 6.8%
- R&D as % of revenue
- 9.5%
- Revenue, trailing twelve months
- $1.00B
- Free cash flow, trailing twelve months
- $68M
- Net income, trailing twelve months
- $54M
- Return on invested capitaloperating profit after tax ÷ debt + equity − cash
- 6.0%
Margins, capital and share counts from the statements as filed with the SEC; cash conversion from the cash flow statement.
Scientific & Technical Instruments
Ranks #16 of 16 by Smart Score