Manufacturing services provider Proto Labs (NYSE:PRLB) will be announcing earnings results tomorrow before market hours. Here’s what you need to know.
Proto Labs beat analysts’ revenue expectations by 1.2% last quarter, reporting revenues of $121.8 million, down 2.6% year on year. It was a strong quarter for the company, with an impressive beat of analysts’ EPS estimates and a decent beat of analysts’ adjusted operating income estimates.
Is Proto Labs a buy or sell going into earnings? Read our full analysis here, it’s free.
This quarter, analysts are expecting Proto Labs’s revenue to decline 3.3% year on year to $123.7 million, a reversal from the 1.6% increase it recorded in the same quarter last year. Adjusted earnings are expected to come in at $0.29 per share.
Analysts covering the company have generally reconfirmed their estimates over the last 30 days, suggesting they anticipate the business to stay the course heading into earnings. Proto Labs has missed Wall Street’s revenue estimates three times over the last two years.
Looking at Proto Labs’s peers in the industrial machinery segment, some have already reported their Q1 results, giving us a hint as to what we can expect. Lincoln Electric delivered year-on-year revenue growth of 2.4%, beating analysts’ expectations by 2.9%, and Luxfer reported revenues up 8.5%, topping estimates by 11.9%. Luxfer traded up 7.7% following the results.
Read our full analysis of Lincoln Electric’s results here and Luxfer’s results here.
Debates around the economy’s health and the impact of potential tariffs and corporate tax cuts have caused much uncertainty in 2025. While some of the industrial machinery stocks have shown solid performance in this choppy environment, the group has generally underperformed, with share prices down 3.7% on average over the last month. Proto Labs is down 3.1% during the same time and is heading into earnings with an average analyst price target of $44.33 (compared to the current share price of $35.16).
When a company has more cash than it knows what to do with, buying back its own shares can make a lot of sense–as long as the price is right. Luckily, we’ve found one, a low-priced stock that is gushing free cash flow AND buying back shares. Click here to claim your Special Free Report on a fallen angel growth story that is already recovering from a setback.