Stocks · Industrials · Manufacturing - Miscellaneous
Proto Labs, Inc. PRLB
$98.21 +4.07% Close, Oct 2, 2026 · NYSE · Market cap $2.34B
High qualityStrong trendExpensive vs sector
Next earnings report: Oct 30, 2026
Scroll or pinch to zoom, drag to move. Daily prices adjusted for splits. Markers: E = earnings (green beat, red miss), S = split, D = dividend.
Three things to know
- Diluted EPS over the last four quarters was $1.25, up 107.1% year over year.
- Earnings beat analyst estimates in each of the last 14 quarters (average surprise over the last four: +23.6%).
- Over the past year the stock returned +100.4%, ahead of the S&P 500 by 85.4 percentage points.
PromtFinance scores
Each score is a percentile within the Industrials sector (0–100). Under each score: how the stock ranks in its sector on every component. As of Oct 5, 2026.
How fast revenue, earnings and cash flow are growing.
- Revenue growth (TTM, YoY)Top 41%
- EPS growth (TTM, YoY)Top 11%
- FCF growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 33%
- Revenue growth, 3-year CAGRBottom 42%
- Revenue growth accelerationBottom 41%
Returns on capital, margins, earnings quality and balance-sheet strength.
- Return on invested capitalBottom 42%
- Gross marginTop 16%
- Operating marginBottom 49%
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Top 19%
- Accruals (lower is better)Top 32%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Top 6%
How cheap the shares are relative to earnings, cash flow and their own history.
- Earnings yieldBottom 39%
- Free-cash-flow yieldBottom 44%
- EBITDA / enterprise valueBottom 29%
- Sales / enterprise valueBottom 27%
- P/E vs own 5-year history (lower is better)Bottom 10%
Strength and persistence of the price trend, including versus the S&P 500.
- 12-month return excluding last monthTop 12%
- 6-month returnTop 7%
- 1-year return vs S&P 500Top 6%
- Distance from 52-week highTop 2%
- Trend checklist (0–4)Top 10%
Earnings surprises and analyst sentiment (estimate-revision history is being collected).
- Average EPS surprise, last 4 quartersTop 20%
- Consecutive EPS beatsTop 5%
- Share of analysts rating BuyBottom 18%
- Upside to consensus price targetBottom 4%
Low volatility, shallow drawdowns, low market sensitivity and modest leverage.
- Volatility, 60 days (lower is better)Bottom 47%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 yearsTop 19%
- Beta vs S&P 500 (lower is better)Bottom 35%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Top 6%
What changed
Latest four quarters versus the same period a year earlier (growth: versus one quarter earlier).
| Measure | Before | Now | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (YoY) | 9.4% | 10.2% | ↑ |
| EPS growth (YoY) | 75.6% | 107.1% | ↑ |
| Gross margin | 44.2% | 45.4% | ↑ |
| Operating margin | 4.4% | 7.0% | ↑ |
| FCF margin | 14.6% | 11.1% | ↓ |
Fundamental momentum
| Measure | Now (TTM) | Year / quarter before | Sector rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (TTM, YoY) | 10.2% | 9.4% | ↑ | Top 41% |
| EPS growth (TTM, YoY) | 107.1% | 75.6% | ↑ | Top 11% |
| Gross margin | 45.4% | 44.2% | ↑ | Top 16% |
| Operating margin | 7.0% | 4.4% | ↑ | Bottom 49% |
| Net margin | 5.4% | 2.9% | ↑ | — |
| Free-cash-flow margin | 11.1% | 14.6% | ↓ | — |
| Return on invested capital | 3.9% | — | Bottom 42% | |
| Revenue growth, 3-year CAGR | 3.0% | — | Bottom 42% |
Quality of earnings and balance sheet
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Above 1× means profits are backed by cash.
- 2.58×
- Accruals (net income − OCF) / assetsLower is better; high accruals can signal weaker earnings quality.
- -6.1%
- Stock-based compensation / revenueA cost to shareholders through dilution.
- 2.6%
- Receivables growth vs revenue growthReceivables growing much faster than sales can be a warning.
- +11.6 pp
- Net debt / EBITDABelow 1× is conservative; above 3× is high leverage.
- -1.66×
Shareholder returns
- Dividend yield (dividends paid, TTM)
- 0.00%
- Net buyback yield (TTM)
- 0.79%
- Shareholder yield
- 0.79%
- Share count change, 1 year
- +0.3%
- Share count change, 3-year CAGR
- -2.4%
Shareholder yield = dividends + net buybacks over the last four quarters, divided by market cap.
Based on the four quarters through Jun 30, 2026 (filed Jul 31, 2026).
Earnings and expectations
Earnings momentum
- Consecutive EPS beats
- 14
- Beats in the last 8 reports
- 8 of 8
- Average EPS surprise, last 4
- +23.6%
- Average 2-day reaction, last 8
- +9.0%
- Positive 20 days after report
- 6 of 8
Analysts
- Consensus price target
- $87.00
- Target vs current price
- -11.4%
- Analysts with a rating
- 17
- Share rating Buy or Strong Buy
- 35%
- Consensus rating
- Hold
How the stock reacted to recent reports
| Report date | EPS surprise | 2 days | 5 days | 20 days | 60 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 31, 2026 | +13.2% | -0.1% | +17.0% | +6.6% | — |
| May 1, 2026 | +35.0% | +0.6% | +5.2% | +16.9% | +15.5% |
| Feb 6, 2026 | +25.7% | +28.0% | +26.6% | +9.3% | +22.6% |
| Oct 31, 2025 | +20.5% | -6.2% | -8.3% | -4.2% | -2.2% |
| Jul 31, 2025 | +24.2% | +9.9% | +14.6% | +29.6% | +40.9% |
| May 2, 2025 | +17.9% | +7.1% | +12.3% | +3.3% | +11.8% |
| Feb 7, 2025 | +18.8% | -6.3% | +1.4% | -14.4% | -12.1% |
| Nov 1, 2024 | +42.4% | +38.7% | +40.9% | +50.3% | +53.3% |
Returns from the close before each report. Past reactions do not determine future ones.
Earnings history
| Report date | EPS | Estimate | Surprise | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 31, 2026 | $0.60 | $0.53 | +13.2% | $149.3M |
| May 1, 2026 | $0.54 | $0.40 | +35.0% | $139.3M |
| Feb 6, 2026 | $0.44 | $0.35 | +25.7% | $136.5M |
| Oct 31, 2025 | $0.47 | $0.39 | +20.5% | $135.4M |
| Jul 31, 2025 | $0.41 | $0.33 | +24.2% | $135.1M |
| May 2, 2025 | $0.33 | $0.28 | +17.9% | $126.2M |
| Feb 7, 2025 | $0.38 | $0.32 | +18.8% | $121.8M |
| Nov 1, 2024 | $0.47 | $0.33 | +42.4% | $125.6M |
Valuation in context
| Multiple | Now | 5-year median | 5-year percentile | Sector rank (cheapness) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P/E (trailing) | 78.6× | 53.4× | 94th | Bottom 39% |
| P/E (forward) | 44.4× | — | — | — |
| EV / EBITDA | 29.2× | — | — | Bottom 29% |
| EV / Sales | 3.94× | — | — | Bottom 27% |
| Free-cash-flow yield | 2.65% | — | — | Bottom 44% |
| Earnings yield | 1.27% | — | — | Bottom 39% |
P/E over the past five years
Range 28.9× – 81.1× since Jun 30, 2021. Each point: price on the filing date divided by trailing-twelve-month EPS known then.
What moved the stock over the past year
- Price return, 1 year
- +100.4%
- Earnings per share growth (TTM)
- +107.1%
- Change in P/E multiple
- -16.0%
Most of the move came from earnings growth.
Technical state
Trend checklist
- ✓ Price above 20-day average
- ✓ Price above 50-day average
- ✓ Price above 200-day average
- ✓ 50-day average above 200-day
- ✓ MACD histogram positive
Trend quality
- Days above the 50-day average
- 13
- Days above the 200-day average
- 358
- 50-day average slope (20 days)
- +5.0%
- 200-day average slope (20 days)
- +5.7%
- Distance from 50-day average
- +16.2%
- Distance from 200-day average
- +41.0%
- RSI (14)
- 72.1
- Relative volume
- 1.00×
Risk and drawdowns
- Volatility, 60 days (annualized)
- 45.4%
- Volatility vs own 5-year history
- 52th percentile · Normal for this stock
- Beta vs S&P 500 (2 years, weekly)
- 1.27
- Correlation with S&P 500
- 0.37
- Current drawdown from 1-year high
- +0.0%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 years
- -33.6%
Largest declines in the past six years
| From peak | To low | Decline | Length | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 27, 2021 | Nov 9, 2022 | -91.2% | 451 days | Not yet recovered |
| Oct 9, 2020 | Oct 28, 2020 | -22.1% | 13 days | 32 days (Dec 14, 2020) |
| Dec 23, 2020 | Jan 4, 2021 | -20.3% | 6 days | 11 days (Jan 20, 2021) |
Declines of 10% or more from a closing high, measured on daily closes.
Financial statements
- Market cap
- $2.34B
- P/E (TTM)
- 78.6
- EPS, diluted (TTM)
- $1.25
- Revenue (TTM)
- $560.5M
- 52-week range
- $45.10 – $99.42
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $488.1M | $488.4M | $503.9M | $500.9M | $533.1M |
| Gross profit | $222.7M | $215.5M | $222.0M | $223.2M | $237.1M |
| Operating income | $27.8M | $26.9M | $28.4M | $25.5M | $26.2M |
| Net income | $33.4M | -$103.5M | $17.2M | $16.6M | $21.2M |
| EPS (diluted) | $1.21 | -$3.77 | $0.66 | $0.66 | $0.88 |
| Q3 2024 | Q4 2024 | Q1 2025 | Q2 2025 | Q3 2025 | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 | Q2 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $125.6M | $121.8M | $126.2M | $135.1M | $135.4M | $136.5M | $139.3M | $149.3M |
| Net income | $7.2M | -$404,000 | $3.6M | $4.4M | $7.2M | $6.0M | $8.1M | $9.2M |
| EPS (diluted) | $0.29 | -$0.02 | $0.15 | $0.18 | $0.30 | $0.25 | $0.33 | $0.37 |
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | $55.2M | $62.1M | $73.3M | $77.8M | $74.5M |
| Capital expenditure | -$34.2M | -$21.7M | -$28.1M | -$9.2M | -$14.8M |
| Free cash flow | $21.0M | $40.4M | $45.2M | $68.7M | $59.7M |
| Dividends paid | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Net share buybacks | -$17.4M | -$25.7M | -$40.1M | -$56.3M | -$36.6M |
Cash outflows are shown as negative numbers.
- Cash and short-term investments
- $142.8M
- Total assets
- $791.3M
- Total liabilities
- $99.6M
- Total debt
- $2.2M
- Net debt
- -$125.7M
- Shareholders’ equity
- $691.7M
As of Jun 30, 2026 (filed Jul 31, 2026).
Short interest
- Shares sold short
- 753,948
- Days to cover
- 4.82
- Change vs previous report
- +22.5%
FINRA short interest, settlement date Sep 15, 2026.