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PRPRLB

Proto Labs, Inc.

$PRLB·$2.1B·Manufacturing - Miscellaneous·Industrials
$79.74-0.4%YTD+73.0%1Y+57.1%
Mentions · last 7 days
2026-08-21: 0 posts2026-08-22: 0 posts20%
Price updated 3d ago·X counts updated 9d ago
PRPRLB
$PRLBProto Labs, Inc.
$79.74-0.45%2 posts0%
AI analysisFundamentalsVoices on X
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AI verdict & sentimentAI analysisGenerated by AI from underlying data

Today's AI verdict on what's driving $PRLB, plus how loud the X conversation is and which way it's leaning.

AI analysis

TickerTalks’ read on the fundamentals and what’s driving the move.

Proven numbersAcceleratingAI verdict · as of 2026-08-21

The move is getting stronger, with heavier trading behind it.

Rapid-manufacturing shop with four straight double-digit EPS beats and a Zacks Strong Buy upgrade — the tape is up 65% year-on-year and the 3D-printing narrative is back.

Proto Labs is an e-commerce-driven digital manufacturer that supplies rapid prototypes and on-demand production parts via injection molding, CNC machining, and multiple 3D-printing modalities. The setup is a re-rating on operational execution and rising analyst conviction around the additive-manufacturing thesis.

  • Q2 EPS came in at $0.60 versus $0.53 consensus (13% beat) — the pattern of the last four EPS surprises (all beats: +13%, +35%, +26%, +20.5%) shows the sell-side is still catching up to the pace of margin expansion.
  • Q1 revenue was $139M, up 10% year-on-year, with gross margin at 45.6% and operating margin at 8% — the growth is real, and the mix shift toward higher-margin production work is the underlying operational story.
  • Trades at 67x trailing earnings, 3.2x sales, and 23x EV/EBITDA — the multiples are stretched, which is what an accelerating industrial-tech name looks like when the tape is willing to underwrite the run.
  • Zacks upgraded to Strong Buy on Aug 12, called out as a top 3D-printing pick and a momentum stock; the equity sits at the 70th percentile of the 52-week range and 22% above the 200-day trend — sell-side and technical signals are lining up.

What extends the move is Oct 30 Q3 delivering another double-digit EPS beat or a specific MIT Industrial Performance Center partnership announcement translating to a medical/aerospace contract. What ends it is a Q3 revenue miss confirming the growth stall many high-multiple industrials have seen, or a specific customer-concentration disclosure; the operational picture is strong, but at 67x the earnings need to keep beating.

What to watch: Oct 30 Q3 earnings — consensus $0.60 EPS. Watch production-services revenue mix, gross margin trend, and any specific medical or aerospace contract announcement flowing from the MIT partnership.

On the calendar: 2026-10-30 — Q3 earnings

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What it does

Plain-English summary of the business — what they sell and how they make money.

Operates an online digital manufacturing marketplace for CNC machining, injection molding, and 3D printing of custom parts.

Industry overviewAI analysisGenerated by AI from underlying data

Where Manufacturing - Miscellaneous sits in its cycle right now — and what that implies for $PRLB.

Manufacturing - Miscellaneous · Industrials

Manufacturing volumes are tied to underlying industrial demand; reshoring trends provide incremental domestic volume but cost competitiveness against imports remains a challenge. Automation investment is the structural margin defense.

What this means for $PRLB

Partial — upstream oil & gas exposure ties to commodity price cycle; Proto Labs, Inc.

Top industry ETF

$XLIIndustrial Select Sector SPDR
+19.8%YTD
+15.5%1Y

Fundamentals & catalyst

Profitability, valuation, and the next earnings event — at a glance, with rule-of-thumb signals.

Key ratios

P/E
67.2How much investors are paying per dollar of profit the company actually earned in the last 12 months. Lower means the stock looks cheaper relative to earnings.~15–25 is typical for the S&P 500; high-growth names trade 30+; hyper-growth or speculative can be 100+ or negative.
ROIC
3.3%What percentage return the business earns on every dollar of capital (equity + debt) deployed in operations. The cleanest measure of business quality.Above ~15% is high-quality; consistently above 25% suggests a real moat. Below the company's cost of capital is value-destroying.
Op margin
6.0%Operating profit (after sales, marketing, R&D, and overhead but before interest and taxes) as a percentage of revenue. The clearest view of how well the underlying business is run.Mature business above 20% is healthy; software businesses can run 30%+; commodity / retail businesses operate in single digits.
FCF yield
3.6%Free cash flow (operating cash flow minus capex) divided by the company's market cap. The cash-on-cash return you'd get owning the whole business at today's price.Above ~5% is attractive; below ~2% means you're paying up for growth. Capital-light businesses (software) run higher than capital-heavy ones (utilities).
P/S
3.2Same idea as P/E but per dollar of revenue. Useful for companies that aren't profitable yet, where P/E is meaningless.Under ~2 is cheap; software / SaaS often runs 8–15; well above 20 implies the market is pricing in very high future growth.
ROE
3.8%Net income as a percentage of shareholders' equity. Similar to ROIC but counts only the equity side.Above 20% is strong, but can be inflated by leverage — a heavily indebted company can show high ROE with weak underlying ROIC.
Gross margin
44.9%Revenue minus the direct cost of producing what was sold, as a percentage of revenue. The first read on whether the product is structurally profitable.Software / SaaS is typically 70%+; consumer goods 30–50%; commodity / hardware businesses can be under 20%.
D/E
0.0Total debt divided by shareholders' equity. Measures how much the business runs on borrowed money versus owner capital.Under 1 is conservative; 1–2 is typical for mature businesses; over 2 is leveraged and more sensitive to interest rates.

Past earnings

QuarterReportedActualEstimateSurprise
Q2 2026Jul 31, 2026$0.60$0.53+13.2%
Q1 2026May 1, 2026$0.54$0.40+35.0%
Q4 2025Feb 6, 2026$0.44$0.35+25.7%
Q3 2025Oct 31, 2025$0.47$0.39+20.5%
Next earningsFri, Oct 30·consensus EPS $0.60

Quarterly trend

QuarterRevenueYoYGrossOpEPSFCF
Q1 FY26$139.3M+10.4%45.6%8.1%$0.34$14.0M
Q4 FY25$136.5M+12.1%44.2%5.7%$0.25$8.4M
Q3 FY25$135.4M+7.8%45.3%6.5%$0.30$30.4M
Q2 FY25$135.1M+7.5%44.3%3.8%$0.19$9.1M

Forward consensus

2-year forecast · up to 3 analysts
FYRevenueRangeEPSRangeAnalysts
FY26$573.1M$570.4M – $575.8M$2.02$1.99 – $2.053
FY27$615.6M$612.7M – $618.5M$2.22$2.20 – $2.243

Setup & momentum

Volume, range, and moving-average position — the technical setup driving short-term moves.

Right now

Vol vs 30dToday's traded share volume divided by the average over the prior 30 trading days. ≥3× signals unusual interest; below 1× is quiet.0.9×Today's traded share volume divided by the average over the prior 30 trading days. ≥3× signals unusual interest; below 1× is quiet.
52w rangeWhere the latest close sits between the 52-week low (0%) and high (100%). Above 80% is extended; below 30% is basing or in a downtrend.72%Where the latest close sits between the 52-week low (0%) and high (100%). Above 80% is extended; below 30% is basing or in a downtrend.
vs 50d MALatest close vs the 50-day simple moving average. Positive = short-term trend is up.-1.0%Latest close vs the 50-day simple moving average. Positive = short-term trend is up.
vs 200d MALatest close vs the 200-day simple moving average. Positive = long-term trend is up.+22.1%Latest close vs the 200-day simple moving average. Positive = long-term trend is up.

Float & profile

FloatLow float · 23.4M shFree-float shares — the slice of issued stock actually available to trade. Lower buckets squeeze harder on a catalyst.Traded today0.7% of floatToday's volume as a percent of the free float. Above 5% on a single day is unusually high turnover for the available share count.β1.415-year weekly beta vs the S&P 500. Above 1.5 means the stock typically moves more than the index; below 0.8 moves less.

Insider activity

Recent open-market buys and sells by officers and directors — flagged when multiple insiders cluster.

Recent transactions

SellJun 2Sven WehrweinDirector2.0K sh$155KSellMay 12Michael R. KenisonChief Operations Officer16.0K sh$1.1MSellMay 11Michael R. KenisonChief Operations Officer7.4K sh$522KSellMay 7Michael R. KenisonChief Operations Officer200 sh$14K
+ 12 other (7 awards · 3 exempts · 2 inkinds) in window

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  • Real-time open-market buys and sells from Form 4 filings
  • Cluster-buy detection when multiple insiders pile in at once
  • 30 / 60 / 180-day windows so you can spot building conviction
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SEC filings

Material 8-K, 13D, S-3, and 424B5 events from the last 180 days — the filings that actually move the price.

Recent material filings

8-KPress release / Reg FDAug 248-K — Item 7.01: Press release / Reg FD
AI summary

Proto Labs, Inc. issued a press release on August 24, 2026 via Reg FD disclosure announcing the appointment of Sam Ramahi as Chief Operations Officer, effective August 31, 2026. No financial terms or prior role details are included in the excerpt. This is a routine senior leadership addition; the new COO will oversee operational execution across Proto Labs' digital manufacturing platform.

3New insider — initial holdingsMay 223
AI summary

Bernardo Parlange, Chief Commercial Officer of Proto Labs, Inc. (PRLB), filed an initial Form 3 on May 18, 2026. No securities are listed in the beneficial ownership tables. This is a routine initial ownership statement required upon Parlange's appointment as a new officer at Proto Labs, the Maple Plain, Minnesota-based on-demand digital manufacturing company.

8-KOfficer or director changeMay 208-K — Item 5.02: Officer or director change · Item 5.07: Shareholder vote
AI summary

Proto Labs, Inc. (PRLB) filed an 8-K on May 19, 2026 disclosing a personnel change (Item 5.02) and annual shareholder meeting vote results (Item 5.07). Proto Labs is a Maple Plain, Minnesota-based on-demand digital manufacturing company listed on the NYSE. The excerpt does not identify the executive; annual meeting results are routine, but an officer change at a mid-cap manufacturing company is noteworthy depending on the seniority of the role.

8-KOfficer or director changeMay 78-K — Item 5.02: Officer or director change · Item 7.01: Press release / Reg FD
AI summary

PRLB disclosed a personnel change (8-K Item 5.02, dated 2026-05-07). An executive departure and a new appointment are both reported. Personnel changes are generally administrative; materiality depends on seniority and circumstances.

+ 15 other (6 13Gs · 2 10-Qs · 2 earnings 8-Ks · 2 proxys) in window

Recent news

Latest headlines from major outlets, sourced and timestamped — context for whatever just moved.

American Capital Management Inc. Invests $50.52 Million in Proto Labs, Inc. $PRLBdefenseworld.net·4d agoProtolabs Appoints Sam Ramahi as Chief Operations Officerbusinesswire.com·7d agoHere's Why Proto Labs (PRLB) Is a Great 'Buy the Bottom' Stock Nowzacks.com·7d agoProto Labs, Inc. $PRLB Shares Sold by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.defenseworld.net·16d agoProtolabs Supports MIT Industrial Performance Center Research Fellows to Accelerate U.S. Medical and Aerospace Manufacturing Innovationbusinesswire.com·18d ago

In themes

Explore the broader themes this ticker is being talked about under.

Robotics & Humanoids
Voices on X · last 7 days

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