Proto Labs Inc (PRLB)

Item 2. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with our unaudited consolidated financial statements and related notes appearing elsewhere in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025.

Forward-Looking Statements

This report contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include all statements that are not historical or current facts. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by the following words: “may,” “will,” “could,” “would,” “should,” “expect,” “intend,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “project,” “potential,” “continue,” “ongoing” or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology, although not all forward-looking statements contain these words. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results to be materially different from those expressed or implied in such statements. Certain of these risk factors and others are described in Item 1A. “Risk Factors” of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, as well as our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Other unknown or unpredictable factors also could have material adverse effects on our future results. We cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. We expressly disclaim any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances, except as required by law.

Overview

We are the world’s fastest manufacturing service enabling companies across every industry to streamline production of quality parts throughout the entire product life cycle. Our vision is accelerating innovation by revolutionizing manufacturing. Our mission is to shape the future by bringing customer ideas to life across every stage of their product cycle. We accomplish this by offering a variety of manufacturing capabilities fulfilled through a combination of owned manufacturing factories and a worldwide network of premium manufacturing partners. Our automated quoting and manufacturing systems are highly integrated with our manufacturing and fulfillment systems, which allow us to offer a vast array of manufacturing technologies in a variety of materials across a continuum of lead times and prices. Protolabs uses artificial intelligence (AI) in a number of different ways to improve our efficiency and the value we offer to customers, including: intelligent pricing and sourcing algorithms, automated quality inspection in injection molding, toolpath verification in CNC machining, software development, and various other AI end use cases. In the age of AI, we are well-positioned with our long history of leveraging technology to solve legacy manufacturing challenges and are deploying AI to power how we drive innovation to better serve our customers. AI is enabling us to move faster than ever before and continue to scale our business efficiently. Our technology-enabled digital engineering and manufacturing applications enable us to produce commercial-grade prototype and production plastic, metal, and liquid silicone rubber parts in as fast as one day.

Our customers conduct nearly all of their business with us over the Internet. We target our products to the millions of product developers and engineers who use three-dimensional computer-aided design (3D CAD) software to design products across a diverse range of end-markets, to the procurement and supply chain professionals seeking to easily and efficiently source custom parts on-demand, and to a wide variety of customers seeking to purchase custom parts. We believe our use of advanced technologies enables us to offer significant advantages at competitive prices to many customers and is the primary reason we have become a leading supplier of custom parts.

We have established our operations in the United States and Europe.

Our primary manufacturing product lines currently include Injection Molding, CNC Machining, 3D Printing and Sheet Metal. We continually seek to expand the range of sizes and geometric complexity of the parts we can make or source with these processes, to extend the variety of materials we are able to support, and to identify additional manufacturing processes to which we can apply our technology or incorporate into our manufacturing network in order to better serve the evolving preferences and needs of our customers.

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Key Financial Measures and Trends

Revenue

Our operations are comprised of two geographic operating segments in the United States and Europe.

Revenue is derived from the sale of parts fulfilled through our owned manufacturing factories and worldwide network of premium manufacturing partners. Our product lines consist of Injection Molding, CNC Machining, 3D Printing and Sheet Metal. Injection Molding revenue consists of sales of custom injection molds and injection-molded parts. CNC Machining revenue consists of sales of CNC-machined custom parts. 3D Printing revenue consists of sales of 3D-printed parts. Sheet Metal revenue consists of sales of fabricated sheet metal custom parts.

Protolabs’ long-term strategy is to serve customers across the entire lifecycle of a part—from prototype through production. To support this long-term strategy, we have aligned the organization around four strategic pillars:

•Elevate Customer Experience – remove friction across the customer journey to deliver a best-in-class experience and increase revenue per customer. Enable employees to serve customers more efficiently, driving faster growth.

•Accelerate Innovation – reaccelerate innovation across core manufacturing services to drive outsized growth and an accelerated pace of new releases. Leverage differentiated IP and deep manufacturing & engineering talent.

•Expand Production – take a deliberate, customer-led approach—prioritizing the right customers, applications, and capabilities. Begin with most strategic customers and scale over time.

•Drive Operational Efficiency – expand our factory and Protolabs network gross margins and capture operating expense leverage via efficiencies and productivity. Reallocate resources and funds to invest in the highest-priority growth initiatives.

The following table summarizes our unique customer contacts and revenue per customer contact:

1 Revenue per customer contact is calculated using the revenue recognized during the respective period divided by the actual number of customer contacts served during the same period. Customer contacts are product developers, engineers, procurement and supply chain professionals and other individuals who place an order, and that order is shipped and invoiced during the period. The Company believes revenue per customer contact is useful to investors in evaluating the underlying business trends and ongoing operating performance of the Company.

Cost of Revenue, Gross Profit and Gross Margin

Cost of revenue consists primarily of raw materials, equipment depreciation, employee compensation (including benefits and stock-based compensation), facilities costs, overhead allocations associated with the manufacturing process for molds and custom parts, and costs to procure parts through our network of premium manufacturing partners. We expect our personnel-related costs to increase in order to retain and attract top talent and remain competitive in the market. Overall, we expect cost of revenue to increase in absolute dollars as our business grows.

We define gross profit as our revenue less our cost of revenue, and gross margin as gross profit expressed as a percentage of revenue. Our gross profit and gross margin are affected by many factors, including the mix of revenue produced in our internal manufacturing operations and outsourced to our external manufacturing partners, pricing, sales volume, manufacturing costs, costs associated with increasing production capacity, the mix between domestic and foreign revenue sources, the mix of revenue by product line, and foreign currency exchange rates.

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Operating Expenses

Operating expenses consist of marketing and sales, research and development and general and administrative expenses. Personnel-related costs are the most significant component in each of these categories.

Our business strategy is to continue to be a leading online and technology-enabled manufacturer of quick-turn, on-demand injection-molded, CNC-machined, 3D-printed and fabricated sheet metal custom parts for prototyping and low-volume production. In order to achieve our goals, we anticipate continued substantial investments in technology and personnel, resulting in increased operating expenses in the future.

Marketing and sales. Marketing and sales expense consists primarily of employee compensation, benefits, commissions, stock-based compensation, marketing demand generation costs such as electronic, print and pay-per-click advertising, trade shows and other related overhead. We expect sales and marketing expense to increase in the future as we increase the number of marketing and sales professionals and marketing demand generation costs targeted to increase our customer base and grow revenue.

Research and development. Research and development expense consists primarily of personnel and outside service costs related to the development of new processes and product lines, enhancement of existing product lines, development of software for internal use, maintenance of internally developed software, quality assurance and testing. Costs for internal use software are evaluated by project and capitalized where appropriate under ASC 350-40, Intangibles — Goodwill and Other, Internal-Use Software. We expect research and development expense to increase in the future as we seek to enhance our e-commerce interface technology, internal software and supporting business systems, and continue to expand our product lines.

General and administrative. General and administrative expense consists primarily of employee compensation, benefits, stock-based compensation, professional service fees related to accounting, tax and legal, and other related overhead. We expect general and administrative expense to increase in the future as we continue to grow and expand as a global organization.

Restructuring and transformation costs. Restructuring and transformation costs consist of expenses related to actions taken to improve operational efficiency and streamline the organization. Such costs include employee severance and related benefits, professional fees, and other charges in connection with organizational realignments. Cost savings generated from these initiatives are being redeployed primarily into technology investments, including enhancements to core systems, automation, and digital capabilities, to support growth in our core business and further drive scale and efficiency.

Costs related to disposal and exit activities. Costs related to disposal and exit activities are driven by our decision to close certain manufacturing facilities in Germany. The expenses consist primarily of operating expenses, including write-down of property and equipment

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Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and related notes included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. This discussion and analysis contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Our actual results may differ materially from those anticipated in these forward- looking statements as a result of various factors, including those set forth under “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. This Management's Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) generally discusses fiscal years 2025 and 2024 items and year-to-year comparisons between 2025 and 2024. Discussions of fiscal year 2023 items and year-to-year comparisons between 2024 and 2023 are generally not included in this MD&A, and can be found in "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" in Part II, Item 7. of the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2024, filed with the SEC on February 21, 2025.

Overview

We are the world’s fastest manufacturing service enabling companies across every industry to streamline production of quality parts throughout the entire product life cycle. We manufacture prototypes and low-volume production parts for companies worldwide that are under increasing pressure to bring their finished products to market faster than their competition. We utilize injection molding, computer numerical control (CNC) machining, 3D printing and sheet metal fabrication to manufacture custom parts for our customers. Our proprietary technology eliminates most of the time-consuming and expensive skilled labor conventionally required to quote and manufacture parts. Through the acquisition of Hubs (formerly 3D Hubs, Inc., recently rebranded to Protolabs Network) in 2021, we provide our customers access to a global network of premium manufacturing partners who reside across North America, Europe and Asia. The manufacturing partner network, complements our in-house manufacturing, enabling us to significantly increase the size, complexity, breadth of manufacturing processes, lead times and prices of the parts we produce. Our customers conduct nearly all their business with us over the Internet. We target our products at the millions of product developers and engineers who use three-dimensional computer-aided design (3D CAD) software to design products across a diverse range of end-markets, to the procurement and supply chain professionals seeking to easily and efficiently source custom parts on-demand, and to a wide variety of customers seeking to purchase custom parts.

We currently operate in a global custom contract manufacturing market which is a form of outsourcing where companies enter into an arrangement or formal agreement with another company or individual for the manufacture of complete parts, products, or components. Since our inception, we have focused on areas where we could automate the manufacturing process via our digital model and we positioned ourselves to avoid routine, low margin, high-volume commoditized manufacturing. Our initial focus was on prototypes and simple parts and have added complexity over time, as well as adding production to our offer. We have added additional manufacturing services and expanded those services to meet the needs of our customers, which has ultimately driven our growth. We continually seek to expand the range of size and geometric complexity of the parts we can make or source with these processes, to extend the variety of materials we are able to support, and to identify additional manufacturing processes to which we can apply our technology or incorporate into our manufacturing network in order to better serve the evolving preferences and needs of our customers. As a result of the factors described above, many of our customers tend to return to Proto Labs to meet their ongoing needs,

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with approximately 96%, 95% and 95% of our revenue in the years ended December 31, 2025, 2024 and 2023, respectively, derived from existing customers.

We have established our operations in the United States and Europe. On October 21, 2024, the Company's board of directors approved a plan related to the Company's manufacturing facilities in Germany. The plan includes the closure of the Company's prototype injection molding manufacturing facility in Eschenlohe, Germany, and the discontinuation of Direct Metal Laser Sintering 3D printing services through its 3D printing facility in Putzbrunn, Germany. The Company substantially completed the plan during the fourth quarter of 2025.The Company continues to offer all its manufacturing services to customers across Europe, including injection molding and metal 3D printing through internal manufacturing facilities and a network of manufacturing partners. Previously we had established operations in Japan. Our revenue outside of the United States accounted for approximately 19% and 21% of our consolidated revenue in the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively. We intend to continue to expand our international sales efforts and believe opportunities exist to serve the needs of customers in select new geographic regions.

Total revenue increased to $533.1 million in the year December 31, 2025 from $500.9 million in the year ended December 31, 2024. During this period, our operating expenses increased to $212.0 million in the year ended December 31, 2025 from $203.3 million in the year ended December 31, 2024. Historically, our growth in revenue has been accompanied by increased cost of revenues and operating expenses. We expect to increase investment in our operations to support anticipated future growth as discussed more fully below.

In addition, we believe that a number of trends affecting our industry have impacted our results of operations, which have increased our revenue and our operating expenses, and may continue to do so. For example, we believe that many of our target customers are facing trends, which are disrupting long-term product growth models. We believe our customers are facing increased pressure to shorten product life-cycles, to embed products with connectivity driven by the "internet of things" technology, and to deliver products that are personalized and customized to unique customer specifications. We believe we continue to be well positioned to benefit from these trends, given our proprietary technology that enables us to automate and integrate the majority of activities involved in procuring custom parts. As a result, the adoption of e-commerce manufacturing has accelerated, which allows opportunity for us to provide valuable solutions to customers looking to build resiliency in their supply chains through fast, on-demand manufacturers. While our business may be positively affected by these trends, our results may also be favorably or unfavorably impacted by other trends that affect customer orders for custom parts, including, among others, economic conditions, changes in customer preferences or needs, developments in our industry and among our competitors, and developments in our customers' industries. For a more complete discussion of the risks facing our business, see Part I, Item 1A. “Risk Factors” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Key Financial Measures and Trends

Revenue

Our operations are comprised of two geographic operating segments in the United States and Europe. On October 21, 2024, the Company's board of directors approved a plan related to the Company's manufacturing facilities in Germany. The plan includes the closure of the Company's prototype injection molding manufacturing facility in Eschenlohe, Germany, and the discontinuation of Direct Metal Laser Sintering 3D printing services through its 3D printing facility in Putzbrunn, Germany. The Company substantially completed the plan in the fourth quarter of 2025. These services will be fulfilled through internal manufacturing facilities and a network of manufacturing partners.

Revenue is derived from our Injection Molding, CNC Machining, 3D Printing and Sheet Metal product lines. Injection Molding revenue consists of sales of custom injection molds and injection-molded parts. CNC Machining revenue consists of sales of CNC-machined custom parts. 3D Printing revenue consists of sales of custom 3D-printed parts. Sheet Metal revenue consists of sales of fabricated sheet metal custom parts and assemblies.

Our revenue is generated from a diverse customer base and our historical and current efforts to increase revenue have been directed at gaining new customers and selling to our existing customer base by increasing marketing and selling activities, including:

•expanding the breadth and scope of our products by adding more sizes and materials to our offerings;

•the introduction of our 3D Printing product line through our acquisition of FineLine in 2014;

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•expanding 3D printing to Europe through our acquisition of Alphaform in October 2015;

•the introduction of our Sheet Metal product line through our acquisition of RAPID in 2017;

•continuously improving the usability of our product lines such as our web-centric applications; and

•providing customers with on-demand access to a global network of premium manufacturing partners through our acquisition of Hubs in January 2021.

The following table summarizes our unique customer contacts and revenue per customer contact:

1 Revenue per customer contact is calculated using the revenue recognized during the respective period divided by the actual number of customer contacts served during the same period. Customer contacts are product developers, engineers, procurement and supply chain professionals and other individuals who place an order, and that order is shipped and invoiced during the period. The Company believes revenue per customer contact is useful to investors in evaluating the underlying business trends and ongoing operating performance of the Company.

During 2025, we served 48,415 unique customer contacts who purchased our products through our web-based customer interface, a decrease of 6.1% over the same period in 2024. Our customer contacts served decreased while our revenue increased. This was primarily due to our mix of customers served in 2025 as compared to 2024 and our strategic focus to earn larger orders from our customers as we strive to be their supplier of choice by serving their custom parts needs through the comprehensive offer of our factory and the Protolabs Network. Our revenue per customer contact grew 13.3% as compared to 2024.

During 2024, we served 51,552 unique customer contacts who purchased our products through our web-based customer interface, a decrease of 3.6% over the same period in 2023.

Cost of Revenue, Gross Profit and Gross Margin

Cost of revenue consists primarily of raw materials, equipment depreciation, employee compensation including benefits and stock-based compensation, facilities costs and overhead allocations associated with the manufacturing process for molds and custom parts. We expect our personnel-related costs to increase in order to retain and attract top talent and remain competitive in the market. Overall, we expect cost of revenue to increase in absolute dollars.

Our quick-turn factory business model requires that we invest in our capacity well in advance of demand to ensure we can fulfill the expectations for quick

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