Mesa Laboratories Inc (MLAB) stock analysis

P/E against its history

Not enough price and earnings history to compare.

P/E above the industry

Mesa Laboratories's P/E of 121.1 is above the Laboratory Apparatus and Analytical, Optical, Measuring, and Controlling Instruments median of 36.5.

EV/EBITDA above its 5-year median

Mesa Laboratories's EV/EBITDA of 28.9 is above its 5-year median of 27.1.

P/B above the industry

Mesa Laboratories's price-to-book of 4.00 is above the Laboratory Apparatus and Analytical, Optical, Measuring, and Controlling Instruments median of 3.17.

Trading above fair value

The share price of $139.21 is above our fair value estimate of $81.27.

Margin of safety under 20%

The price is 71.3% above fair value, so there is no margin of safety.

Revenue growing under 10% a year

Revenue grew 4.4% a year over the last three fiscal years, short of the 10% we look for.

EPS growing 10%+ a year

Diluted EPS grew 92.4% a year over the last three fiscal years.

Earnings acceleration

Needs positive net income now, a year ago and five years ago.

Growing slower than the industry

Revenue grew 2.5% over the last twelve months; the Laboratory Apparatus and Analytical, Optical, Measuring, and Controlling Instruments median is 8.4%.

Company guidance

No outlook found in earnings releases from the last twelve months.

Gross margin improving

Gross margin was 64.8% over the last twelve months, against 62.2% a year earlier.

Return on equity under 15%

Return on equity was 3.6% over the last twelve months and averaged -18.2% over five years; we look for 15% on both.

Return on capital under 10%

Return on invested capital was 7.9%, below the 10% that usually covers the cost of capital.

Return on equity above the industry

Mesa Laboratories's return on equity of 3.6% is above the Laboratory Apparatus and Analytical, Optical, Measuring, and Controlling Instruments median of 1.1%.

Earnings grew over 5 years

Net income grew 15.4% a year on average over the last five fiscal years.

Net margin above its 5-year average

Net margin was 2.7% over the last twelve months, against a 5-year average of -22.9%.

Net margin above the industry

Mesa Laboratories's net margin of 2.7% is above the Laboratory Apparatus and Analytical, Optical, Measuring, and Controlling Instruments median of -1.3%.

Debt level

Needs debt and equity figures.

Debt trend

Needs a balance sheet from five years ago with positive equity.

Debt coverage

Needs operating cash flow.

Interest not well covered

Operating income covers interest expense 2.6 times; we look for at least 5.

Short-term assets cover short-term debts

Current assets are 1.90 times current liabilities.

Bankruptcy risk in the grey zone

The Altman Z-score is 2.54; above 3 is the safe zone and below 1.8 the distress zone.

Pays a dividend

Mesa Laboratories paid dividends worth 0.5% of the share price over the last twelve months.

Yield below Treasuries

The 0.5% yield is below the 4.4% on a 1-year Treasury.

Yield below the top quarter

The top quarter of US dividend payers yield 3.8% or more; Mesa Laboratories yields 0.5%.

Dividend not cut

The dividend per share has not fallen by more than 10% in any of the last 8 fiscal years.

Covered by earnings

Dividends take 53.3% of net income.

Covered by free cash flow

Dividends take 7.2% of free cash flow.