# Core Laboratories NV (CLB.US)

Canonical: https://gigainvestors.com/s/CLB

Analysis as of: 2026-10-16T07:27:27.587Z. Financial observations: FY1996–FY2025.

Listing currency: USD. Reporting currency: USD.

## Verdict

Not a wonderful business

Quality tests for Buy: not passed (profit record: pass; earnings resilience is evidence only). Published buy qualification: no.

Share price: $9.78 per share; close as of 2026-10-15.

Estimated value: low $7.14 per share, central $8.09 per share, high $9.35 per share. Buy at or below the central value $8.09 per share. Valuation as of 2026-10-16T07:27:27.587Z; scenarios are not confidence intervals.

Expected annual return: 8.7% at the stated quote. About 8.7% a year at today's price (required return 10.0%). required return 10.0% a year (10% floor; US 10-year bond 5.1% + 4 points).

## Checklist

### understandable: fail

- 4 revenue declines in the last 10 years (informational)

- operating margin variation exceeds 0.35

- Financial history: 10 years

- Years with declining revenue: 4

- Years with a net loss: 1

- Operating margin variation: 0.93×

Chart: Operating margin; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: 0.14×

- FY2017: 0.17×

- FY2018: 0.17×

- FY2019: 0.14×

- FY2020: -0.16×

- FY2021: 0.10×

- FY2022: 0.08×

- FY2023: 0.11×

- FY2024: 0.11×

- FY2025: 0.10×

### moat: fail

- ROIC median below threshold

- ROIC worst years below threshold (more than 1 bad year allowed)

- ROIC, median of available years: 14.0%

- ROIC, second-lowest year: 9.3%

- Typical minus recent gross margin: 1.8 pp

- Typical gross margin (annual median): 19.7%

- Recent gross margin (lower of latest and 3-year median): 17.9%

- Years with nonpositive capital: 0

- Capital spending / revenue: 2.6%

- ROIC including acquisitions, ten-year median: 8.7%

Chart: ROIC excluding acquisitions; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: 38.9%

- FY2017: 47.0%

- FY2018: 40.1%

- FY2019: 28.8%

- FY2020: -21.3%

- FY2021: 10.2%

- FY2022: 9.3%

- FY2023: 15.1%

- FY2024: 13.0%

- FY2025: 11.1%

### economics: fail

- incremental invested capital return below threshold

- Owner earnings / net income, 5-yr: 1.14×

- Cash conversion uses consolidated totals: No

- Owner earnings, five-year total: $156M

- Net income, five-year total: $137M

- Return on incremental invested capital: 0.0%

- Working capital / revenue, annual change: 1.3 pp

- Working capital / revenue, change between three-year averages: 9.9 pp

- Working capital / revenue, final three-year average: 29.0%

Chart: Annual owner cash / profit; fiscal year observations.

- FY2021: 1.25×

- FY2022: 1.36×

- FY2023: 1.14×

- FY2024: 1.06×

- FY2025: 1.00×

### management: fail

- Historical market-dollar context (not the management verdict): 2016 to 2025 (9 years)

- potential debt-funded buybacks (informational)

- buybacks leaned toward cheaper years (informational)

- ROIC first 3 years vs last 3 years: 40.1% vs 13.0%

- Per-share earnings: 1.88 to 0.66 (three-year endpoint medians)

- per-share value declined or ends nonpositive

- Management verdict uses per-share economic progress: Yes

- Ordinary dilution, 10-year annual growth: 0.8%

- Ordinary dilution, 5-year annual growth: 0.9%

- Market cap gain: -$4.6B

- Cumulative retained earnings: -$15M

- Diluted shares, 10-year annual growth: 0.8%

- Diluted shares, 5-year annual growth: 0.9%

- $1 test, starting fiscal year: FY2016

- $1 test, ending fiscal year: FY2025

- Per-share value growth: -12.3%

- Per-share value change: -$1.22

- Per-share value, starting three-year median: $1.88

- Per-share value, ending three-year median: $0.66

- Buybacks concentrated in cheaper years (correlation): 0.16

- Average buyback yield: 0.5%

- Buyback history: 10 years

- Debt-funded buybacks: Yes

- Acquisition spending: $52M

- Cumulative net income, 10 years: $368M

- ROIC, first three-year median: 40.1%

- ROIC, last three-year median: 13.0%

Chart: Earnings per share; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: $1.46

- FY2017: $1.88

- FY2018: $1.79

- FY2019: $2.28

- FY2020: -$2.20

- FY2021: $0.42

- FY2022: $0.42

- FY2023: $0.77

- FY2024: $0.66

- FY2025: $0.64

### accounting: pass

- stock compensation exceeds 15% of operating cash flow

- Sloan accruals: -1.3%

- Receivables to sales index (DSRI): 0.94×

- Restructuring years, last five: 0

- Stock compensation / operating cash flow: 19.3%

- Earnings backed by cash: Yes

- Operating cash / earnings: 1.25×

- Accounting red flags: 1

- Goodwill and intangibles / equity: 0.42×

Chart: Sloan accruals; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: -11.9%

- FY2017: -7.0%

- FY2018: -5.0%

- FY2019: 1.6%

- FY2020: -27.3%

- FY2021: -2.9%

- FY2022: -1.0%

- FY2023: 2.0%

- FY2024: -4.2%

- FY2025: -1.3%

## Holders

- [John Rogers](https://gigainvestors.com/AI): tracked 13F investor; follow the investor page for holding quarter and amounts.

## Price story

Down 69% since Mar 2022 · "Middle East Conflict Weighs On Core Laboratories' Q1 Outlook" (finance.yahoo.com, Mar 2026) · sales +0.5%

Story as of 2026-10-16T09:58:30.693Z; price observation 2026-10-15.

Price needs cash profits to grow 3.3% a year for ten years

- 2026-03-23: Core Labs cuts Q1 guidance, citing impact of Middle East war ([seekingalpha.com](https://seekingalpha.com/news/4567620-core-labs-cuts-q1-guidance-citing-impact-of-middle-east-war?utm_source=feed_news_all&utm_medium=referral&feed_item_type=news))

### Sales · FY2024–2025

sales +0.5%; source https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1000229/000095017023002412/clb-20221231.htm; observed 2023-02-10.

- FY2016: $595M 

- FY2017: $660M 

- FY2018: $701M 

- FY2019: $668M 

- FY2020: $487M 

- FY2021: $470M 

- FY2022: $490M 

- FY2023: $510M 

- FY2024: $524M 

- FY2025: $527M 

### Gross margin · FY2025

gross margin 17.9%; source https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1000229/000095017023002412/clb-20221231.htm; observed 2023-02-10.

- FY2016: 21.1% 

- FY2017: 24.3% 

- FY2018: 25.8% 

- FY2019: 25.8% 

- FY2020: 21.0% 

- FY2021: 17.8% 

- FY2022: 16.1% 

- FY2023: 18.4% 

- FY2024: 16.9% 

- FY2025: 17.9% 

## Owner memo

Memo as of 2026-10-16T08:06:05.509Z.

### How it makes money

Operates in oil & gas equipment & services; annual sales are USD 526.5 million.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2023-02-10); FY2025: revenue 526520000; grossProfit 94284000; margin = grossProfit / revenue.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-05); CLB.US: Core Laboratories Inc. provides reservoir description and production enhancement services and products to the oil and gas industry in the United States, and internationally. It operates through Reservoir Description and Production Enhancement segments. The Reservoir Description segment includes the characterization of petroleum reservoir rock and reservoir fluid samples to enhance production and improve recovery of crude oil and natural gas from its clients' reservoirs. It offers laboratory-based analytical and field services to characterize properties of crude oil and oil delivered products; and proprietary and joint industry studies, as well as services that support carbon capture, utilization and storage, geothermal projects, and the evaluation and appraisal of mining activities. The Production Enhancement segment provides services and products relating to reservoir well completions, perforations, stimulations, production, and well abandonment. It offers integrated diagnostic services to evaluate and monitor the effectiveness of well completions and to develop solutions to improve the effectiveness of enhanced oil recovery projects. The company markets and sells its products through a combination of sales representatives, technical seminars, trade shows, and print advertising, as well as through distributors. Core Laboratories Inc. was founded in 1936 and is based in Houston, Texas.

### Why customers stay

Margins ranged from 16.9% to 18.4% during 2023–25; it earns 14% on its capital.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2023-02-10); FY2023: grossProfit / revenue = 18.4%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2023-02-10); FY2024: grossProfit / revenue = 16.9%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2023-02-10); FY2025: grossProfit / revenue = 17.9%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2023-02-10); 10-year return on capital observations [[2016,0.3887959338451551],[2017,0.4700033253988716],[2018,0.4008535708345584],[2019,0.28849527947196923],[2020,-0.21271893843780676],[2021,0.10160171291419888],[2022,0.09339757708170551],[2023,0.15075511823506121],[2024,0.1300139312684776],[2025,0.11087902495858815]]; median 0.1403845247517694. ROIC follows the displayed moat series; financial companies use return on tangible equity.

### Where the cash goes

Spends 0.3% of cash earnings on expansion; paid dividends in 10 of 10 years.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2023-02-10); FY2016: growth capex 0; upkeep 11704000; owner earnings 79063000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2023-02-10); FY2017: growth capex 0; upkeep 18775000; owner earnings 88874000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2023-02-10); FY2018: growth capex 0; upkeep 21741000; owner earnings 80872000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2023-02-10); FY2019: growth capex 0; upkeep 22269000; owner earnings 102319000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2023-02-10); FY2021: growth capex 0; upkeep 13539000; owner earnings 24704000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1000229/000095017023002412/clb-20221231.htm (filed 2023-02-10); FY2022: growth capex 0; upkeep 10216000; owner earnings 26398000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2023-02-10); FY2023: growth capex 0; upkeep 10579000; owner earnings 41880000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2023-02-10); FY2024: growth capex 0; upkeep 13028000; owner earnings 33325000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2023-02-10); FY2025: growth capex 90000; upkeep 14649000; owner earnings 29669000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.0030334692776972597.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2023-02-10); Dividend observations: [[2016,95145000],[2017,97143000],[2018,97251000],[2019,97574000],[2020,12446000],[2021,1834000],[2022,1853000],[2023,1868000],[2024,1876000],[2025,1869000]]. Zero only counted when supported by a complete cash-flow statement.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2023-02-10); FY2025: cash repurchases 12426000 USD.

### Are managers owners

Insiders own 1.4% of the company.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-05); CLB.US SharesStats.PercentInsiders = 1.432 percentage points; cache date 2026-10-05.

### What the price says

The price assumes cash profits grow 3.3% yearly over ten years; actual decline was 13.6%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2023-02-10); Ten-year compound average after fade. Initial solved rate 0.0349023592545432. Price 9.78; FX 1; discount 0.1; same standard ten-year fade to terminal 0.03. FY2015 owner earnings/share 2.751165283863149 → FY2025 0.6380430107526882. Closing-price date 2026-10-15.

## Monthly share-price history (USD per share)

- 2016-10: $96.97 per share

- 2016-11: $111.76 per share

- 2016-12: $120.04 per share

- 2017-01: $116.83 per share

- 2017-02: $114.42 per share

- 2017-03: $115.52 per share

- 2017-04: $110.82 per share

- 2017-05: $102.24 per share

- 2017-06: $101.27 per share

- 2017-07: $100.53 per share

- 2017-08: $88.18 per share

- 2017-09: $98.70 per share

- 2017-10: $99.90 per share

- 2017-11: $100.75 per share

- 2017-12: $109.55 per share

- 2018-01: $114.30 per share

- 2018-02: $102.96 per share

- 2018-03: $108.22 per share

- 2018-04: $122.45 per share

- 2018-05: $124.18 per share

- 2018-06: $126.21 per share

- 2018-07: $112.12 per share

- 2018-08: $114.55 per share

- 2018-09: $115.83 per share

- 2018-10: $85.24 per share

- 2018-11: $83.11 per share

- 2018-12: $59.66 per share

- 2019-01: $67.46 per share

- 2019-02: $64.81 per share

- 2019-03: $68.93 per share

- 2019-04: $63.39 per share

- 2019-05: $47.64 per share

- 2019-06: $52.28 per share

- 2019-07: $50.17 per share

- 2019-08: $39.59 per share

- 2019-09: $46.62 per share

- 2019-10: $44.04 per share

- 2019-11: $43.80 per share

- 2019-12: $37.67 per share

- 2020-01: $35.13 per share

- 2020-02: $26.84 per share

- 2020-03: $10.34 per share

- 2020-04: $19.61 per share

- 2020-05: $20.22 per share

- 2020-06: $20.32 per share

- 2020-07: $21.33 per share

- 2020-08: $20.93 per share

- 2020-09: $15.26 per share

- 2020-10: $14.45 per share

- 2020-11: $21.97 per share

- 2020-12: $26.51 per share

- 2021-01: $32.98 per share

- 2021-02: $35.54 per share

- 2021-03: $28.79 per share

- 2021-04: $28.18 per share

- 2021-05: $41.80 per share

- 2021-06: $38.95 per share

- 2021-07: $33.36 per share

- 2021-08: $27.56 per share

- 2021-09: $27.75 per share

- 2021-10: $26.01 per share

- 2021-11: $22.89 per share

- 2021-12: $22.31 per share

- 2022-01: $26.67 per share

- 2022-02: $27.56 per share

- 2022-03: $31.63 per share

- 2022-04: $26.00 per share

- 2022-05: $28.18 per share

- 2022-06: $19.81 per share

- 2022-07: $18.94 per share

- 2022-08: $16.15 per share

- 2022-09: $13.48 per share

- 2022-10: $19.46 per share

- 2022-11: $21.68 per share

- 2022-12: $20.27 per share

- 2023-01: $25.60 per share

- 2023-02: $23.87 per share

- 2023-03: $22.05 per share

- 2023-04: $22.51 per share

- 2023-05: $21.87 per share

- 2023-06: $23.25 per share

- 2023-07: $25.99 per share

- 2023-08: $24.04 per share

- 2023-09: $24.01 per share

- 2023-10: $21.42 per share

- 2023-11: $17.71 per share

- 2023-12: $17.66 per share

- 2024-01: $15.77 per share

- 2024-02: $14.97 per share

- 2024-03: $17.08 per share

- 2024-04: $15.80 per share

- 2024-05: $18.74 per share

- 2024-06: $20.29 per share

- 2024-07: $24.49 per share

- 2024-08: $19.56 per share

- 2024-09: $18.53 per share

- 2024-10: $18.90 per share

- 2024-11: $20.35 per share

- 2024-12: $17.31 per share

- 2025-01: $16.97 per share

- 2025-02: $14.63 per share

- 2025-03: $14.99 per share

- 2025-04: $11.37 per share

- 2025-05: $10.75 per share

- 2025-06: $11.52 per share

- 2025-07: $10.94 per share

- 2025-08: $11.51 per share

- 2025-09: $12.36 per share

- 2025-10: $15.94 per share

- 2025-11: $15.10 per share

- 2025-12: $16.03 per share

- 2026-01: $19.54 per share

- 2026-02: $17.59 per share

- 2026-03: $16.79 per share

- 2026-04: $14.65 per share

- 2026-05: $13.67 per share

- 2026-06: $11.65 per share

- 2026-07: $10.64 per share

- 2026-08: $12.43 per share

- 2026-09: $9.70 per share

- 2026-10: $9.78 per share

## Annual estimated value (USD per share)

- FY2016: low $32.82 per share, central $37.34 per share, high $43.35 per share

- FY2017: low $24.14 per share, central $27.47 per share, high $31.90 per share

- FY2018: low $23.20 per share, central $26.40 per share, high $30.66 per share

- FY2019: low $22.04 per share, central $25.07 per share, high $29.12 per share

- FY2020: low $16.01 per share, central $18.20 per share, high $21.13 per share

- FY2021: low $12.88 per share, central $14.63 per share, high $16.96 per share

- FY2022: low $6.28 per share, central $7.13 per share, high $8.27 per share

- FY2023: low $6.42 per share, central $7.29 per share, high $8.45 per share

- FY2024: low $6.64 per share, central $7.53 per share, high $8.72 per share

- FY2025: low $7.24 per share, central $8.20 per share, high $9.48 per share

Historical values use today's bond yield for every fiscal year

Historical values use today's FX rate into trading currency for every fiscal year

Historical values use current restated fundamentals and current commodity classification; they are not point-in-time estimates

## Sources

[Original 10-K filing](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1000229/000095017023002412/clb-20221231.htm); period 2022-12-31, filed 2023-02-10.

Estimates depend on assumptions and are not guarantees or investment advice. Underlying data remains subject to its source licenses; public reading does not grant bulk redistribution rights.