Harvard Bioscience Inc key statistics and ratios

In fiscal 2025, Harvard Bioscience Inc had return on equity of -147.1%, an operating margin of -56.1%, debt equal to 291.2% of equity and a current ratio of 2.20. Each ratio below is calculated from the figures on its income statement, balance sheet and cash flow pages.

Financial ratios

US$ thousands unless shown otherwise. Fiscal years, plus the last twelve months (LTM) when newer.

Harvard Bioscience Inc: financial ratios, annual
Fiscal year	2009Dec 2009	2010Dec 2010	2011Dec 2011	2012Dec 2012	2013Dec 2013	2014Dec 2014	2015Dec 2015	2016Dec 2016	2017Dec 2017	2018Dec 2018	2019Dec 2019	2020Dec 2020	2021Dec 2021	2022Dec 2022	2023Dec 2023	2024Dec 2024	2025Dec 2025	LTMJun 2026
Gross margin	48.6%	47.9%	46.1%	47.1%	45.4%	45.4%	44.8%	46.3%	50.6%	52.3%	55.4%	56.8%	56.9%	53.7%	58.9%	58.2%	57.7%	58.2%
Operating margin	9.4%	9.4%	7.7%	7.0%	1.5%	6.1%	−1.6%	−2.9%	−0.8%	0.8%	0.3%	0.2%	1.7%	−6.1%	1.7%	−6.6%	−56.1%	−0.3%
Net margin	8.4%	17.6%	3.5%	2.1%	−1.7%	2.2%	−17.5%	−4.1%	−1.1%	−2.4%	−4.0%	−7.6%	−0.2%	−8.4%	−3.0%	−13.2%	−65.5%	−11.9%
Free-cash-flow margin	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	0.2%	1.6%	5.9%	8.0%	0.1%	−0.4%	10.9%	−1.3%	6.3%	−1.3%
Return on equity	9.6%	23.0%	4.1%	2.4%	−1.8%	2.5%	−22.0%	−5.8%	−1.1%	−3.6%	−5.7%	−9.9%	−0.4%	−12.2%	−4.7%	−18.2%	−147.1%	−98.4%
Return on assets	—	15.2%	3.0%	1.8%	−1.4%	1.7%	−14.9%	−3.8%	−0.8%	−2.1%	−2.8%	−4.9%	−0.2%	−6.2%	−2.4%	−9.4%	−54.9%	−13.3%
Asset turnover	—	0.87	0.87	0.85	0.78	0.80	0.85	0.92	0.71	0.87	0.70	0.64	0.75	0.74	0.79	0.71	0.84	1.12
Current ratio	—	5.18	6.02	5.96	3.78	3.15	2.62	3.11	3.39	2.27	2.12	2.46	2.43	2.20	1.85	0.82	2.20	1.87
Debt to equity	0.0%	20.0%	17.1%	12.4%	26.2%	22.5%	24.4%	19.2%	14.7%	73.5%	67.3%	64.4%	59.3%	66.0%	50.8%	58.3%	291.2%	494.5%
Interest cover (operating income ÷ interest)	29.1x	15.1x	11.2x	13.4x	1.6x	6.7x	n/m	n/m	n/m	0.2x	—	—	—	—	—	n/m	n/m	—
Effective tax rate	27.2%	—	23.0%	34.8%	—	46.7%	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
R&D as % of revenue	5.1%	4.3%	3.6%	3.9%	3.9%	4.5%	5.9%	5.2%	7.3%	9.1%	9.2%	8.5%	9.1%	10.9%	10.5%	11.1%	10.2%	10.4%
Capital spending as % of revenue	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	1.1%	0.8%	1.0%	1.1%	1.0%	1.4%	1.6%	2.8%	1.5%	2.0%

US$ thousands unless shown otherwise. Fiscal quarters.

Harvard Bioscience Inc: financial ratios, quarterly
Quarter	2024 Q3Sept 2024	2024 Q4Dec 2024	2025 Q1Mar 2025	2025 Q2Jun 2025	2025 Q3Sept 2025	2025 Q4Dec 2025	2026 Q1Mar 2026	2026 Q2Jun 2026
Gross margin	58.1%	57.1%	56.0%	56.4%	58.4%	59.7%	59.0%	55.6%
Operating margin	−8.5%	0.0%	−228.1%	−4.0%	1.0%	7.2%	−5.7%	−4.3%
Net margin	−21.9%	0.1%	−231.2%	−11.2%	−6.0%	−12.0%	−16.5%	−12.8%
Free-cash-flow margin	−7.8%	5.8%	11.4%	13.0%	4.3%	−2.3%	−5.2%	−1.6%
Current ratio	2.06	0.82	0.81	0.81	0.81	2.20	1.99	1.87
Debt to equity	58.6%	58.3%	245.4%	221.8%	241.4%	261.2%	360.5%	494.5%
R&D as % of revenue	11.7%	9.5%	10.7%	10.7%	10.4%	9.2%	11.2%	10.8%

Returns use average equity or assets over the year. Return on equity is left blank when equity is negative or so small that the ratio says nothing (above ±200%); interest cover is left blank above 200 times. Price-based ratios such as P/E are on the valuation page.

Financial health

2 of 6 checks passed · June 30, 2026

What it owns · $76m

Short-term assets $46mLonger-term assets $30m

What it owes, and who funded it · $76m

Short-term liabilities $25mLonger-term liabilities $44mShareholders' equity $7m

Short-term assets cover short-term liabilities $46m of assets due within a year against $25m of liabilities due within a year.
Short-term assets cover long-term liabilities $46m short-term assets against $44m of longer-dated liabilities.
More cash than debt $7m of cash against $37m of debt.
Debt below 40% of shareholders' equity Debt is 494% of equity.
Debt burden no higher than five years ago Debt to equity moved from 54% to 494% over five years.
A year's operating cash flow covers at least 20% of debt $651,000 of operating cash flow against $37m of debt.
Operating profit covers interest at least five times over Interest not separately reported. Not assessable.

From Harvard Bioscience Inc's latest balance sheet as filed. Checks are fixed, documented rules (methodology), counted only where the company reports the figures — a dot means the filing doesn't break the item out. Descriptions of reported data, not advice.

Moat

56 /100

Moderate moat

How hard Harvard Bioscience's competitive advantage looks for rivals to wear away, judged from 10 years of its own filings: returns on capital, pricing power, profit durability, cash conversion and discipline.

Returns on capital 14 / 20

Cash operating profit has been a median 11.3% of total assets over 10 years.
Pricing power 18 / 20

Gross margin has been a median 56.3%, moving by 3.3 percentage points (standard deviation) across 10 years.
Durability 10 / 20

Operating margin has been a median -1.1%; its worst year was -59.0%.
Cash conversion 10 / 20

Free cash flow was positive in 7 of 9 years, at a median 4.4% of revenue.
Discipline 9 / 20

The diluted share count rose 17.2% over five years; stock-based pay has been a median 3.6% of revenue.

AI disruption exposure: Medium. In this industry, AI could change how the product is made or sold, without replacing the core asset. The score above includes a 5-point deduction for that exposure (61 before it).

A rules-based reading of reported figures, not a forecast and not investment advice. How the score is built: methodology.

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Figures from Harvard Bioscience Inc's SEC filings (10-K and 10-Q), retrieved October 29, 2026. How we read and check them: methodology and data sources. Not investment advice. Back to Harvard Bioscience Inc.