Mesa Laboratories (MLAB) AI Stock Analysis

• Market Cap: $451.32M
• Dividend Yield: 0.79%
• Average Volume (3M): 148.03K
• Price to Earnings (P/E): 29.9
• Beta (1Y): 1.39
• Revenue Growth: 7.39%
• EPS Growth: 99.34%
• Country: US
• Employees: 736
• Sector: Technology
• Sector Strength: 88
• Industry: Hardware, Equipment & Parts
• EPS (TTM): 3.07
• Shares Outstanding: 5,524,813
• 10 Day Avg. Volume: 101,777
• 30 Day Avg. Volume: 148,032
• PEG Ratio: 3.29
• Price to Book (P/B): 4.03
• Price to Sales (P/S): 2.67
• P/FCF Ratio: 15.23
• Enterprise Value/Market Cap: 1.16
• Enterprise Value/Revenue: 2.12
• Enterprise Value/Gross Profit: 3.50
• Enterprise Value/Ebitda: 11.86
• 1Y Price Target: $104.50
• Price Target Upside: 27.92% Upside
• Rating Consensus: Moderate Buy
• Number of Analyst Covering: 2
• EPS Forecast (FY): 6.34
• Revenue Forecast (FY): $250.63M

• Rating: 58 Neutral
• Price Target: $84.00 ▲(2.83% Upside)
• Action: Reiterated Date: 03/12/26
• Date: Action: Reiterated 03/12/26

The score is driven primarily by improving but still volatile fundamentals: strong free cash flow and healthy margins are offset by thin/unstable bottom-line results and weak returns. Technicals add near-term risk with a bearish trend despite oversold readings, while valuation (P/E ~29.9 with a low yield) provides limited support. The CEO change is a modest positive but not enough to outweigh the earnings stability and momentum concerns.

Positive Factors

Free Cash Flow Strength

Consistent, multi-year positive free cash flow (~$37.7M TTM) provides durable internal funding for R&D, capital expenditures, dividends or debt paydown. Strong cash generation reduces reliance on external financing and supports strategic investments over the next 2–6 months and beyond.

High Gross Margins

Sustained ~60% gross margins reflect product mix and pricing power in regulated sterilization, monitoring and calibration markets. High margins support operating profitability and buffer against cost shocks, enabling reinvestment and margin sustainability over multiple quarters.

Experienced CEO Succession

An orderly external succession installing a CEO with experience scaling global life‑science businesses can materially improve strategy execution, global expansion and commercial scaling. Performance‑linked pay aligns incentives and signals commitment to long‑term growth.

Negative Factors

Earnings Volatility

Sharp swings from loss to near breakeven reduce predictability of earnings and complicate capital allocation. Persistent volatility can limit management's ability to commit to long‑lead investments and raises execution risk for multi‑quarter strategic initiatives.

Weak Returns on Equity

A slightly negative TTM ROE indicates the company has not consistently generated returns on shareholder capital. Over time this can constrain access to equity funding, limit investor support for capital raises, and pressure strategic choices around reinvestment.

Balance Sheet Volatility & Past Leverage

Historical episodes of higher leverage and balance sheet volatility reduce financial flexibility during downturns or for opportunistic investments. Even with recent improvement, the track record suggests a persistent need to manage debt prudently to avoid funding stress.

Mesa Laboratories Business Overview & Revenue Model

Company Description

Mesa Laboratories, Inc. develops, manufactures, and sells life sciences tools and quality control products and services in the United States, Europe, the Asia Pacific, and internationally. The company's Sterilization and Disinfection Control segment manufactures and sells biological, cleaning, and chemical indicators that are used to assess the effectiveness of sterilization and disinfection processes in the hospital, dental, medical device, and pharmaceutical industries. This segment also provides testing and laboratory services primarily to the dental industry. Its Biopharmaceutical Development segment develops, manufactures, and sells automated systems for protein analysis (immunoassays) and peptide synthesis solutions. This segment's solutions include protein analysis comprising analysis equipment, CDs, kits, and buffers; and peptide synthesizers that enables to automate chemically synthesized peptides that are used in the creation of peptide therapies, biomaterials, cosmetics, and general research. The company's Calibration Solutions segment designs, manufactures, and markets quality control and calibration products to measure or calibrate temperature, pressure, pH, humidity, and other such parameters used for health and safety purposes in the hospital, medical device manufacturing, pharmaceutical manufacturing, and various laboratory and healthcare environments. This segment's products include continuous monitoring systems, dialysate meters and consumables, data loggers, gas flow calibration and air sampling equipment, and torque testing systems. Its Clinical Genomics segment develops, manufactures, and sells genetic analysis tools that include MassARRAY system and consumables, including chips, panels, and chemical reagent solutions used by clinical labs to perform genomic clinical testing in several therapeutic areas, such as newborn screenings, pharmacogenetics, and oncology. The company was incorporated in 1982 and is headquartered in Lakewood, Colorado.

How the Company Makes Money

Mesa Laboratories makes money primarily by selling products and solutions that support customers’ ongoing compliance, validation, and monitoring needs. Its revenue is generated through multiple product lines, including: (1) Sterilization and Disinfection Control products, such as biological indicators, chemical indicators, and related test packs and accessories, which are typically purchased repeatedly as consumables for routine sterilizer monitoring and validation programs; (2) Quality Control and Monitoring instruments and systems, including data loggers and environmental monitoring/measurement devices used to capture and manage process and environmental data, where revenue can come from initial hardware sales and associated accessories and replacements; and (3) Calibration and Measurement products and services, where revenue is earned from selling calibration-related instruments and providing calibration services. A significant driver of earnings is the recurring nature of consumables and compliance-driven testing/monitoring needs, which can lead to repeat purchasing and long-term customer relationships in regulated industries. Specific partnership arrangements and their financial contributions are null.

Mesa Laboratories Financial Statement Overview

Summary

Solid cash generation (TTM operating cash flow ~$41.5M; free cash flow ~$37.7M) and healthy gross margin (~60%) support the profile, and leverage has improved (TTM debt-to-equity ~0.62). The main constraint is earnings quality and stability: profitability is still thin/near breakeven with recent losses and sharp swings, and returns remain weak (TTM ROE slightly negative).

Income Statement

TTM (Trailing-Twelve-Months) revenue is $247.5M with very strong reported growth, and profitability has improved materially versus the severe loss year in FY2024 (net margin improved from deeply negative to around breakeven). Gross margin remains healthy (~60%), and operating profitability is positive (EBIT margin ~7%, EBITDA margin ~17%). The key weakness is that bottom-line profitability is still thin/unstable, with recent annual results including losses (FY2025 net loss) and a sharp earnings swing in FY2024, indicating elevated earnings volatility.

Balance Sheet

Leverage has improved meaningfully versus prior years, with TTM debt-to-equity around 0.62 compared with >1.0 in recent annual periods, and equity of ~$186.7M on ~$434.8M of assets. That said, returns remain weak (TTM return on equity is slightly negative), and the balance sheet has shown notable volatility over time (including higher leverage levels in FY2024–FY2025), which keeps financial flexibility a step below best-in-class.

Cash Flow

Cash generation is a clear strength: TTM operating cash flow is ~$41.5M and free cash flow is ~$37.7M, with strong free-cash-flow growth versus the prior period. Free cash flow closely tracks reported earnings in scale (given the small net income base), and the company has produced positive free cash flow across multiple years, supporting reinvestment and debt reduction. A watch-out is that cash-flow-to-income relationships can be noisy when net income is near zero or negative, which can make coverage metrics less stable year to year.

Breakdown	TTM	Mar 2025	Mar 2024	Mar 2023	Mar 2022	Mar 2021
Income Statement
Total Revenue	247.54M	240.98M	216.19M	219.08M	184.34M	133.94M
Gross Profit	150.03M	150.87M	133.25M	133.69M	109.09M	87.01M
EBITDA	44.33M	42.35M	-238.38M	37.52M	32.53M	27.99M
Net Income	3.73M	-1.97M	-254.25M	930.00K	1.87M	3.27M
Balance Sheet
Total Assets	434.85M	433.35M	446.80M	661.83M	707.37M	601.48M
Cash, Cash Equivalents and Short-Term Investments	28.98M	27.32M	28.21M	32.91M	49.35M	263.87M
Total Debt	103.41M	181.47M	231.30M	186.14M	221.13M	146.70M
Total Liabilities	248.16M	273.52M	301.40M	268.35M	313.57M	195.25M
Stockholders Equity	186.69M	159.83M	145.39M	393.48M	393.80M	406.23M
Cash Flow
Free Cash Flow	37.69M	42.31M	41.57M	23.44M	34.79M	35.08M
Operating Cash Flow	41.53M	46.81M	44.13M	27.98M	39.22M	37.07M
Investing Cash Flow	-3.84M	-4.50M	-81.31M	-9.49M	-305.23M	-1.99M
Financing Cash Flow	-42.29M	-44.51M	32.84M	-33.33M	52.58M	146.23M

Mesa Laboratories Technical Analysis

• Technical Analysis Sentiment: Negative
• Last Price: 81.69
• 50DMA: Negative
• 100DMA: Negative
• 200DMA: Positive
• MACD: Positive
• RSI: Neutral
• STOCH: Neutral

Evaluating momentum and price trends is crucial in stock analysis to make informed investment decisions. For MLAB, the sentiment is Negative. The current price of 81.69 is below the 20-day moving average (MA) of 88.20, below the 50-day MA of 86.87, and above the 200-day MA of 79.60, indicating a neutral trend. The MACD of -2.52 indicates Positive momentum. The RSI at 44.12 is Neutral, neither overbought nor oversold. The STOCH value of 38.50 is Neutral, not indicating any strong overbought or oversold conditions. Overall, these indicators collectively point to a Negative sentiment for MLAB.

Mesa Laboratories Peers Comparison

Name	Overall Rating	Market Cap	P/E Ratio	ROE	Dividend Yield	Revenue Growth	EPS Growth
LYTS	70 Outperform	$605.54M	22.22	10.90%	1.07%	22.35%	2.59%
DAKT	68 Neutral	$979.00M	93.63	9.64%	―	-6.13%	-76.92%
RELL	64 Neutral	$161.32M	-268.55	0.51%	2.25%	6.17%	―
Sector *	61 Neutral	$37.18B	12.37	-10.20%	1.83%	8.50%	-7.62%
MLAB	58 Neutral	$451.32M	29.91	2.14%	0.79%	7.39%	99.34%
VPG	55 Neutral	$542.80M	96.46	2.37%	―	-7.46%	-39.98%
LPTH	53 Neutral	$691.93M	―	-70.17%	―	36.85%	-77.93%

Mesa Laboratories Corporate Events

Mesa Laboratories Names New CEO for Next Phase

On March 9, 2026, Mesa Laboratories announced that long‑time President and CEO Gary Owens, who has led the company since 2017 through significant growth and market expansion, will step down on April 12, 2026. The board emphasized that his departure is amicable and not related to any disagreement over operations, policies or practices, and the terms of his separation are still being finalized.

To lead the company’s next phase, Mesa’s board appointed life sciences veteran Dr. Siddhartha Kadia as President, CEO and director, effective April 13, 2026, following a comprehensive external succession process. His compensation package includes an $850,000 base salary, performance‑linked cash incentives, and sizable time‑ and performance‑vested equity awards, underscoring the board’s intent to leverage his experience scaling global life science businesses to drive Mesa’s long‑term growth and strategic execution.

The most recent analyst rating on (MLAB) stock is a Hold with a $100.00 price target. To see the full list of analyst forecasts on Mesa Laboratories stock, see the MLAB Stock Forecast page.