Mesa Laboratories
MLAB on Nasdaq. Mesa Laboratories sells quality control tools to pharmaceutical, healthcare and medical device makers. Market value $796m.
Price checks use the past 12 months to June 2026. Quality checks use five annual reports, the latest for the year to March 2026.
Should I look at this?
Good business, but not cheap right now
Why it could be worth it
What to watch out for
See cheaper Industrials stocks on the list
This is not advice. Check the numbers below.
For every $100 of what the whole company costs, it produced $6.94 of spare cash in the past 12 months. A savings account pays about $4.
You pay 35.4 years of operating profit for the business. The average large US company costs around 18.
The filings do not give us enough to work this out.
Quality score: 73 of 100. Price score: 36 of 100. Our list needs 70 on quality and 60 on price.
$136.06 a share, 104% above its 1-year low
Over the past year the price has ranged from $66.56 to $144.35.
Dividend: 0.5% a year
Paid every year for at least 5 years
Prices from Tuesday’s close (6 October).
Five years of cash, in billions
| Revenue | |||||
| Revenue | $184m | $219m | $216m | $241m | $249m |
| Operating margin | |||||
| Operating margin | 2.6% | 1.5% | -125.9% | 6.8% | 7.4% |
| Debt to equity | |||||
| Debt to equity | n/a | n/a | n/a | 0.45 | 0.36 |
| Shares outstanding | |||||
| Shares outstanding | 0.01bn | 0.01bn | 0.01bn | 0.01bn | 0.01bn |
Health checks
- Free cash flow positive5 of 5 years
- Accounting looks honest (Beneish)Not enough data
- Financial strength (Piotroski)8 of 9
- Profit backed by cash (accruals)Yes
- Debt0.36× equity
- Revenue growth, five yearsStrong, 13.2% a year
- Buying back its own sharesRoughly flat
The quarter to June 2026
How the business did, compared with the same quarter a year earlier.
- Sales: $60 million last quarter, about the same as a year ago.
- Profit: $3 million, down 40% on a year ago.
- It keeps 9 cents of each $1 of sales as operating profit, up from 6 cents a year earlier.
- Spare cash over the past 12 months: $53 million, up from $34 million.
- 4% more shares than a year ago. Each share owns a bit less of the company.
- Debt is $35 million more than cash, down from $49 million a year ago.
- Sales grew on a year ago in each of the last 4 quarters.
| Quarter to | Amount |
|---|---|
| September 2024 | $58m |
| December 2024 | $63m |
| March 2025 | $62m |
| June 2025 | $60m |
| September 2025 | $61m |
| December 2025 | $65m |
| March 2026 | $64m |
| June 2026 | $60m |
| Quarter to | Amount |
|---|---|
| September 2024 | $3m |
| December 2024 | -$2m |
| March 2025 | -$7m |
| June 2025 | $5m |
| September 2025 | $2m |
| December 2025 | $4m |
| March 2026 | -$4m |
| June 2026 | $3m |
From the company's quarterly reports to the SEC.
Dates
- Next results (estimated)
- n/a
- Last annual report (10-K)
- 3 June 2026
- Next quarterly (estimated, 10-Q)
- 9 November 2026
Who owns it
4 long-term investors we follow own it, down from 5 last quarter. 159 funds in all.
- Boston PartnersBoston Partners team
- Value
- $26m
- Share of fund
- <0.1%
- Diamond Hill Capital ManagementRic Dillon (founder)
- Value
- $16m
- Share of fund
- 0.1%
| Fund | Value | Share of that fund | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boston PartnersBoston Partners team | $26m | <0.1% | |
| Diamond Hill Capital ManagementRic Dillon (founder) | $16m | 0.1% | |
| Royce & AssociatesChuck Royce | $11m | <0.1% | Cut |
| GAMCO InvestorsMario Gabelli | $830,247 | <0.1% | Added |
Sold out this quarter
Largest holders overall
- Long Path Partners LP$47mAdded
- BlackRock$44mAdded
- Boston Partners$26m
- Vanguard Capital Management$24mAdded
- AQR Capital Management$20mAdded
- Ranger Investment Management, L.P.$17mCut
- Morgan Stanley$16mCut
- Diamond Hill Capital Management$16m
- Raymond James Financial$15mAdded
- Dimensional Fund Advisors LP$15mAdded
From 13F filings for the quarter ended 30 June 2026.
Big holders and activists
3 investors own more than 5%.
- Conestoga Capital AdvisorsPassive investorat least 11.4%(filed with 1 related holder)Since 31 December 2024
- Long Path Smaller Companies Fund, LPPassive investorat least 8.6%+1.3 pts(filed with 5 related holders)Since 30 June 2026
- BlackRock, Inc.Passive investor6.9%−7.5 ptsSince 30 September 2025
- Royce & AssociatesPassive investorSold down below 5%Since 31 March 2025
- The Vanguard GroupPassive investorSold down below 5%Since 13 March 2026
| Holder | Stake | Since | |
|---|---|---|---|
Conestoga Capital Advisors Passive investor | at least 11.4% (filed with 1 related holder) | 31 December 2024 | |
Long Path Smaller Companies Fund, LP Passive investor | at least 8.6%+1.3 pts (filed with 5 related holders) | 30 June 2026 | |
BlackRock, Inc. Passive investor | 6.9%−7.5 pts | 30 September 2025 | |
Royce & Associates Passive investor | Sold down below 5% | 31 March 2025 | |
The Vanguard Group Passive investor | Sold down below 5% | 13 March 2026 |
From Schedule 13D and 13G filings: anyone owning more than 5% must file one.
What insiders did
In the last 12 months, 4 insiders bought $1m of shares on the open market. 4 sold $2m, $252,365 of it under preset trading plans.
- Sullivan John JamesDirectorSold
- Date
- 13 August 2026
- Shares
- 7,093
- Price
- $112.80
- Value
- $800,090
- Kadia SiddharthaPresident and CEOBought
- Date
- 13 August 2026
- Shares
- 7,093
- Price
- $112.80
- Value
- $800,090
- Tripeny R TonyDirectorBought
- Date
- 13 August 2026
- Shares
- 900
- Price
- $113.69
- Value
- $102,321
- Crennen Lyndsey ElizabethCAOSold
- Date
- 22 June 2026
- Shares
- 442
- Price
- $89.50
- Value
- $39,559
- Archbold Brian DavidSVP OperationsSold
- Date
- 22 June 2026
- Shares
- 2,516
- Price
- $89.50
- Value
- $225,182
- Sakys JohnCFOSold
- Date
- 22 June 2026
- Shares
- 2,827
- Price
- $89.50
- Value
- $253,017
- Archbold Brian DavidSVP OperationsSoldunder a preset trading plan
- Date
- 16 June 2026
- Shares
- 1,151
- Price
- $101.27
- Value
- $116,562
- Crennen Lyndsey ElizabethCAOSoldunder a preset trading plan
- Date
- 16 June 2026
- Shares
- 118
- Price
- $101.27
- Value
- $11,950
- Sakys JohnCFOSoldunder a preset trading plan
- Date
- 16 June 2026
- Shares
- 1,223
- Price
- $101.27
- Value
- $123,853
- Ladiwala Shiraz ShabanaliDirectorBought
- Date
- 10 March 2026
- Shares
- 3,500
- Price
- $72.23
- Value
- $252,805
| Date | Who | Did | Shares | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 August 2026 | Sullivan John James Director | Sold | 7,093 | $112.80 | $800,090 |
| 13 August 2026 | Kadia Siddhartha President and CEO | Bought | 7,093 | $112.80 | $800,090 |
| 13 August 2026 | Tripeny R Tony Director | Bought | 900 | $113.69 | $102,321 |
| 22 June 2026 | Crennen Lyndsey Elizabeth CAO | Sold | 442 | $89.50 | $39,559 |
| 22 June 2026 | Archbold Brian David SVP Operations | Sold | 2,516 | $89.50 | $225,182 |
| 22 June 2026 | Sakys John CFO | Sold | 2,827 | $89.50 | $253,017 |
| 16 June 2026 | Archbold Brian David SVP Operations | Sold under a preset trading plan | 1,151 | $101.27 | $116,562 |
| 16 June 2026 | Crennen Lyndsey Elizabeth CAO | Sold under a preset trading plan | 118 | $101.27 | $11,950 |
| 16 June 2026 | Sakys John CFO | Sold under a preset trading plan | 1,223 | $101.27 | $123,853 |
| 10 March 2026 | Ladiwala Shiraz Shabanali Director | Bought | 3,500 | $72.23 | $252,805 |
From Form 4 filings: insiders must report trades in their own company's shares within two days.
Warning signs in its filings
Problems the company itself reported to the SEC, in its own words.
None of the warning signs we check for were found.
We look for five warning signs: doubt it can keep going, weak checks on its own accounts, a notice that its past accounts can't be relied on, a change of auditor, and one customer bringing in a big share of sales. We don't check lawsuits, investigations or debt yet.
We checked the auditor's report, internal controls, restatement notices, auditor changes and big customers in the 10-K filed 3 Jun 2026, plus the 10-Q filed 10 Aug 2026 and 4 later 8-Ks.
A 10-K is the yearly report every US company files with the SEC. An 8-K is a short notice of a big event.
What could go wrong
- It isn't cheap on profits: 35.4× operating profit.
Whether the price already reflects the risks is what the deep dive is for.
The deep dive
Everything above is arithmetic on public filings. The deep dive reads the last ten years of annual reports, the proxy statements, and the earnings calls, then argues the case the way Buffett, Klarman, and Hohn would, and checks every claim against the source.
- What the business is worth, as a range, and the margin of safety at today’s price
- Prices to start buying, buy, and buy hard
- The three things that would make this a mistake
- Every number footnoted to the filing it came from
Your first deep dive is free.
Not advice. Numbers on this page come from SEC filings and are updated each night; prices are updated again after the US market closes. The five-year figures are rounded.