Mesa Laboratories Inc key statistics and ratios

In fiscal 2026, Mesa Laboratories Inc had return on equity of 3.9%, an operating margin of 7.4%, debt equal to 36.2% of equity and a current ratio of 1.72. 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.

Mesa Laboratories Inc: financial ratios, annual
Fiscal year	2011Mar 2011	2012Mar 2012	2013Mar 2013	2014Mar 2014	2015Mar 2015	2016Mar 2016	2017Mar 2017	2018Mar 2018	2019Mar 2019	2020Mar 2020	2021Mar 2021	2022Mar 2022	2023Mar 2023	2024Mar 2024	2025Mar 2025	2026Mar 2026	LTMJun 2026
Gross margin	57.2%	59.3%	62.2%	60.1%	60.8%	60.7%	56.8%	56.8%	59.1%	55.5%	65.0%	59.2%	61.0%	61.6%	62.6%	63.5%	64.2%
Operating margin	28.8%	31.5%	28.2%	22.4%	22.2%	19.3%	17.4%	2.3%	9.5%	6.7%	9.2%	2.6%	1.5%	−125.9%	6.8%	7.4%	9.0%
Net margin	18.1%	20.0%	18.2%	17.1%	13.4%	13.2%	11.9%	−3.1%	7.3%	1.5%	2.4%	1.0%	0.4%	−117.6%	−0.8%	2.7%	1.9%
Free-cash-flow margin	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	23.8%	28.4%	21.7%	26.2%	18.9%	10.7%	19.2%	17.7%	15.9%	21.2%
Return on equity	17.0%	19.7%	17.5%	15.4%	13.9%	14.1%	12.3%	−3.0%	7.1%	1.1%	1.0%	0.5%	0.2%	−94.4%	−1.3%	3.9%	2.6%
Return on assets	12.2%	15.6%	11.4%	9.2%	8.9%	8.0%	6.7%	−1.8%	4.7%	0.6%	0.6%	0.3%	0.1%	−45.9%	−0.4%	1.6%	1.1%
Asset turnover	0.68	0.78	0.63	0.54	0.66	0.61	0.56	0.57	0.64	0.42	0.27	0.28	0.32	0.39	0.55	0.58	0.59
Current ratio	1.74	4.50	4.17	2.60	2.02	1.55	2.16	1.85	1.42	4.72	9.32	2.59	2.74	2.47	0.63	1.72	1.79
Debt to equity	28.8%	4.0%	7.6%	25.6%	35.7%	53.4%	56.5%	46.6%	20.7%	63.8%	35.9%	43.0%	43.3%	117.7%	102.7%	36.2%	35.0%
Interest cover (operating income ÷ interest)	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	1.2x	5.6x	1.4x	1.5x	1.2x	0.7x	n/m	1.4x	1.7x	2.1x
Effective tax rate	36.6%	35.8%	34.9%	31.3%	37.6%	28.2%	21.8%	—	13.2%	54.0%	−42.2%	47.6%	—	—	—	44.1%	48.7%
R&D as % of revenue	4.2%	3.4%	4.3%	4.4%	4.6%	4.7%	4.4%	3.7%	3.4%	5.4%	7.8%	8.6%	9.4%	8.9%	8.1%	8.2%	8.0%
Capital spending as % of revenue	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	2.9%	1.2%	1.3%	1.5%	2.4%	2.1%	1.2%	1.8%	1.3%	1.1%
Free cash flow ÷ net income	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	391.4%	>999%	>999%	>999%	>999%	—	—	589.7%	>999%
Dividends ÷ net income	24.1%	20.8%	21.5%	22.1%	22.8%	20.6%	21.1%	—	32.9%	153.1%	96.7%	178.5%	366.2%	—	—	52.5%	73.6%
Dividends and buybacks ÷ free cash flow	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	10.5%	8.4%	10.7%	9.0%	9.6%	14.5%	8.3%	8.1%	8.9%	6.7%

US$ thousands unless shown otherwise. Fiscal quarters.

Mesa Laboratories Inc: financial ratios, quarterly
Quarter	2025 Q2Sept 2024	2025 Q3Dec 2024	2025 Q4Mar 2025	2026 Q1Jun 2025	2026 Q2Sept 2025	2026 Q3Dec 2025	2026 Q4Mar 2026	2027 Q1Jun 2026
Gross margin	61.3%	63.3%	61.8%	62.0%	61.5%	64.2%	66.2%	64.9%
Operating margin	6.1%	9.2%	2.4%	5.1%	7.8%	12.2%	4.3%	11.7%
Net margin	5.9%	−2.7%	−11.4%	8.0%	4.1%	5.6%	−6.5%	4.7%
Free-cash-flow margin	6.0%	27.6%	19.2%	1.5%	11.7%	27.7%	21.3%	23.6%
Current ratio	0.70	0.63	0.63	0.66	2.02	1.94	1.72	1.79
Debt to equity	45.3%	46.5%	44.6%	40.8%	38.9%	36.7%	36.2%	35.0%
R&D as % of revenue	8.0%	8.0%	8.2%	8.4%	8.3%	7.7%	8.2%	7.9%

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

3 of 6 checks passed · June 30, 2026

What it owns · $419m

Short-term assets $103mLonger-term assets $316m

What it owes, and who funded it · $419m

Short-term liabilities $57mLonger-term liabilities $173mShareholders' equity $189m

Short-term assets cover short-term liabilities $103m of assets due within a year against $57m of liabilities due within a year.
Short-term assets cover long-term liabilities $103m short-term assets against $173m of longer-dated liabilities.
More cash than debt $31m of cash against $66m of debt.
Debt below 40% of shareholders' equity Debt is 35% of equity.
Debt burden no higher than five years ago Five-year comparison not available. Not assessable.
A year's operating cash flow covers at least 20% of debt $56m of operating cash flow against $66m of debt.
Operating profit covers interest at least five times over Operating income of $22m against $11m of interest.

From Mesa Laboratories 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

44 /100

Weak moat

How hard Mesa Laboratories'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 0 / 20

Net income has been a median 0.1% of total assets over 10 years.
Pricing power 19 / 20

Gross margin has been a median 60.2%, moving by 2.6 percentage points (standard deviation) across 10 years.
Durability 0 / 20

Operating margin has been a median 5.4%; its worst year was -118.8%.
Cash conversion 19 / 20

Free cash flow was positive in 7 of 7 years, at a median 18.7% of revenue.
Discipline 10 / 20

The diluted share count rose 6.3% over five years; stock-based pay has been a median 5.4% 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 (49 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 Mesa Laboratories 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 Mesa Laboratories Inc.