PRLBProto Labs, Inc.
Is the business good?
A genuinely good business: earnings fully cash-backed (3.0×) and margins widening.
Mixed fundamental signals. Nine pass/fail tests of year-over-year health from the filings.
Operating profit is fully backed by cash. Conversion is worsening 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 3% = margin × turnover × leverage.
Unless marked, from derived.
Against the whole market›
Percentile against every name Ryufin tracks. Higher is better; the tick marks the middle of the market. Context, not one of the checks above.
Where this answer is blind. The F-score rewards improvement, so an already-elite company can score mid-pack.
How good a business is PRLB?
Proto Labs, Inc. earns 5.3% 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% · 3.7 points below what the capital costs: growth destroys value
- Operating margin
- 6.6%
Operating margin · Metal Fabrication median 7.6% · 12 months to Q2 2026
- Cash conversion
- 2.96×
Cash conversion · 6.43× a year ago · operating cash flow covers the operating profit after tax
- Share count, year on year
- +1.3%
Share count, year on year · shareholders own a smaller slice than a year ago
| Year | Operating margin |
|---|---|
| FY2020 | 14% |
| FY2021 | 8.3% |
| FY2022 | −20% |
| FY2023 | 5.6% |
| FY2024 | 4.0% |
| FY2025 | 4.7% |
Details›
- Gross margin12 months to Q2 2026
- 45%
- Operating margin12 months to Q2 2026
- 6.6%
- Net margin12 months to Q2 2026
- 5.4%
- Free cash flow margin
- 10%
- R&D as % of revenue
- 7.6%
- Revenue, trailing twelve months
- $561M
- Free cash flow, trailing twelve months
- $57M
- Net income, trailing twelve months
- $30M
- Return on invested capitaloperating profit after tax ÷ debt + equity − cash
- 5.3%
Margins, capital and share counts from the statements as filed with the SEC; cash conversion is operating cash flow over operating profit after tax.