Mesa Laboratories (MLAB) AI Stock Analysis

• Market Cap: $505.69M
• Dividend Yield: 0.79%
• Average Volume (3M): 148.03K
• Price to Earnings (P/E): 135.6
• Beta (1Y): 1.31
• 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: 5,522,299
• 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: 1.18
• Enterprise Value/Revenue: 2.41
• Enterprise Value/Gross Profit: 3.97
• Enterprise Value/Ebitda: 13.44
• 1Y Price Target: $104.50
• Price Target Upside: 14.17% Upside
• Rating Consensus: Moderate Buy
• Number of Analyst Covering: 2
• EPS Forecast (FY): N/A
• Revenue Forecast (FY): N/A

• Rating: 57 Neutral
• Price Target: $83.00 ▼(-9.32% Downside)

The score is primarily supported by strong and improving cash generation and healthy operating-level profitability, but is held back by unstable net earnings/returns (negative P/E and weak ROE) and mixed-to-weak technical momentum (negative MACD and price below key moving averages).

Positive Factors

Strong free cash flow generation

Consistent multi-year FCF provides durable financial flexibility: supports reinvestment, debt reduction, dividends, and funding of product development without relying on equity markets. Strong cash generation cushions the business through earnings volatility and cyclical demand.

High gross margins and operating profitability

Sustained ~60% gross margins and positive operating margins reflect product differentiation and pricing power in regulated monitoring instruments. These margins create durable cash flow potential, enabling margin expansion, R&D funding, and resilience versus commoditization risk in the long run.

Recurring service/software and regulatory partnerships

A mixed revenue model (hardware + software + recurring calibration/maintenance) and ties to regulatory standards create sticky customer relationships and predictable recurring revenue. This structural mix raises switching costs and supports steady demand from life-science and compliance-focused clients.

Negative Factors

Unstable net earnings and weak returns

Earnings volatility and a slightly negative ROE reduce confidence in long-term profitability and make capital allocation harder. When net income swings between loss and breakeven, metrics like reinvestment returns and shareholder pay-outs become unpredictable and planning is constrained.

Balance-sheet volatility and prior high leverage

Although leverage has improved, the history of higher debt and balance-sheet swings reduces financial flexibility. In periods of weak earnings or cash pressure, past leverage patterns raise the risk of covenant strain, constrained M&A/capex capacity, and less optionality for strategic moves.

Thin net-income base makes coverage metrics noisy

With net income near zero or occasionally negative, free cash flow and operating cash can diverge from reported earnings, complicating profitability assessment. That instability undermines predictability of dividends, buybacks, or reinvestment and elevates execution risk for growth plans.

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 generates revenue through the sale of its diverse range of monitoring and testing products. Key revenue streams include the sale of hardware devices, such as temperature and humidity sensors, along with software solutions that facilitate data collection and analysis. Additionally, the company offers ongoing maintenance and calibration services, which provide a recurring revenue stream. Significant partnerships with regulatory agencies and industry leaders enhance its market presence and contribute to its earnings by ensuring that its products meet the stringent quality standards required in life sciences applications.

Mesa Laboratories Financial Statement Overview

Summary

Strong free cash flow generation (TTM FCF ~$37.7M; OCF ~$41.5M) and healthy gross margin (~60%) support an improving profile, with positive operating profitability (EBIT ~7%, EBITDA ~17%). The main constraint is unstable bottom-line results (recent net losses and sharp earnings swings) and weak/negative ROE, limiting confidence in durable profitability.

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

Mesa Laboratories Technical Analysis

• Technical Analysis Sentiment: Positive
• Last Price: 91.53
• 50DMA: Positive
• 100DMA: Positive
• 200DMA: Positive
• MACD: Negative
• RSI: Neutral
• STOCH: Neutral

Evaluating momentum and price trends is crucial in stock analysis to make informed investment decisions. For MLAB, the sentiment is Positive. The current price of 91.53 is above the 20-day moving average (MA) of 84.13, above the 50-day MA of 81.25, and above the 200-day MA of 83.50, indicating a bullish trend. The MACD of 0.89 indicates Negative momentum. The RSI at 65.52 is Neutral, neither overbought nor oversold. The STOCH value of 58.01 is Neutral, not indicating any strong overbought or oversold conditions. Overall, these indicators collectively point to a Positive sentiment for MLAB.

Mesa Laboratories Peers Comparison

Name	Overall Rating	Market Cap	P/E Ratio	ROE	Dividend Yield	Revenue Growth	EPS Growth
DAKT	72 Outperform	$1.17B	177.21	2.64%	―	-6.13%	-76.92%
LYTS	68 Neutral	$692.75M	27.09	11.03%	1.07%	22.35%	2.59%
VPG	67 Neutral	$715.74M	90.68	2.37%	―	-7.46%	-39.98%
Sector *	61 Neutral	$37.18B	12.37	-10.20%	1.83%	8.50%	-7.62%
RELL	58 Neutral	$167.62M	174.77	0.11%	2.25%	6.17%	―
MLAB	57 Neutral	$505.69M	135.58	-0.92%	0.79%	7.39%	99.34%
LPTH	52 Neutral	$500.83M	-24.49	-37.93%	―	36.85%	-77.93%