By Alena Houšková, via Wikimedia Commons
Bear
This week has been an interesting one for the 3D printing set of tech stocks, with the long-anticipated news that Materialise would be going public finally breaking on Wednesday (April 2nd).
Materialise revealed it has filed with SEC to raise an IPO of up to $125 million. The company - whose revenues rose by 16 per cent to €68.7 million (£57 million, $95 million) in 2013 - says it will use the proceeds to expand its operations, which currently include a service bureau and software operations, in addition to a successful 3D printing community i.materialise.
In the meanwhile, however, our big four have been making announcements of their own. ExOne's (NASDAQ:XONE) is still experiencing a slide following its Q4 and full-year results, while 3D Systems (NYSE:DDD) is down despite a potentially lucrative acquisition announcement this week. After announcing its financial results for 2013 and the October-December period at the end of March, voxeljet (NYSE:VJET) is still bumping along without gaining much height, while Stratasys (NASDAQ:SSYS) is the only member of this parcel of stocks to be making headway on the markets - perhaps thanks to its own promising acquisitions.
ExOne
ExOne reported its full-year results for 2013 on March 19th, announcing that 2013 revenue was up by 38 per cent year-on-year - or $10.8 million - to $39.5 million driven by the sale of 29 machines, compared to just 13 in 2012 and five in 2011.
ExOne has previously experience a dip in share price when it announced its full-year financial results would come in at the lower end of its guidance due to delayed machine sales, but in spite of this warning, the company succeeded in selling 12 of its large-scale industrial 3D printers in the final three months of 2013 - including five of its M-Flex units. For the fourth quarter, revenue was $10.7 million - which is down 16 per cent compared with revenue of $12.7 million year-on-year.
Machine revenue represents two-thirds of ExOne's total revenue for the quarter, which is down by 22 per cent from the year prior.
The company is optimistic for 2014 even though this outlook is not reflected in its share price. ExOne has anticipated 40-50 per cent revenue growth for 2014 in line with its strategic goals.
Chairman and CEO Kent Rockwell said: "For our relatively young manufacturing technology company, 2013 has been a dynamic year of significant progress. We invested in a variety of sales-related initiatives and technological advancements. We are expanding our manufacturing capacity and, most importantly, we enhanced our personnel and leadership capabilities.
"As we progress in 2014, we believe that the adoption of 3D printing in industrial manufacturing applications is gaining momentum in our global marketplace."
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At close of play on the Nasdaq last night, ExOne's share price was down by nearly four per cent to $34.56. On the anniversary of its IPO, the company was up by around $15.00, but after a gradual rise to Autumn 2013, followed by a tempestuous fluctuation in the subsequent seven months, and as such, speculators are in much the same position they were a year ago.
voxeljet
Last week, voxeljet announced its Q4 and full year results for 2013, painting a rosy picture for the German additive manufacturing giant, which only went public in October 2013.
Revenue for the October-December period was up by 78 per cent year-on-year to K€3,693, while revenue from 3D printing systems was K€2,458 over those three months compared to K€932 in the year prior. Indeed, voxeljet sold three of its 3D printers over this timeframe compared to the one it shipped in 2012's Q4.
Like ExOne, systems revenue represented two-thirds of voxeljet's total revenue in this quarter compared to 44.8 per cent in the year prior. Services revenue was down for this period, however, slipping to K€340 from K€594 in the fourth quarter of 2012.
For the full year ending December 31st 2013, voxeljet's revenues were up by over one third (34.2 per cent) - or K€2,977 - to K€11,688 and on New Year's Eve the company had cash and equivalents of K€33,459.
Looking ahead, voxeljet anticipates revenue to grow in excess of 50 per cent in 2014, with seven of its 3D printers making up its backlog of orders as of March 15th 2014.
It has not quite been six months since voxeljet's IPO, entering the NYSE at around $30.00 per unit in mid-October 2013. Since a mid-November spike to $69.00 - heights not seen since - voxeljet's share price has bumped around the $40.00 mark and slipped to sub $30.00 since the beginning of March.
Such fluctuations are common in the teething months of a new entry, however, but the next six months will be key for voxeljet and its shareholders.
As of close of play in Manhattan last night, voxeljet was down by 1.5 per cent to $25.38 per unit, creeping up from its 52-week low of $25.17 per unit.
3D Systems
In spite of a promising week of news, 3D Systems has still not managed to turn things around since its steady decline commencing in the New Year.
After concentrating heavily on the consumer space for some time, 3D Systems has made some serious industrial announcements in recent weeks. At the end of March, the company announced it has commenced shipping of its compact professional machine for dental labs and jewellery-makers, the ProJet 1200 Micro-SLA and this week the company revealed the latest in its string of acquisitions.
The news 3D Systems is acquiring successful provider of patient-specific medical devices and implants Medical Modeling, fortified by CEO Avi Reichental's recent push for metals in his presentation at Inside 3D Printing in New York City, indicate a renewed zeal for professional 3D printing and infiltrating industries, rather than homes.
Investors have not jumped at this progress, however. At close of play on the New York Stock Exchange last night, 3D Systems was down by nearly three per cent to $56.46 per unit. Nevertheless, the company is still head and shoulders higher in the marketplace than it was 12 months ago. At the beginning of April 2013, 3D Systems was barely over $30.00 per unit, but then its 52-week high of $96.42 back on New Year's Eve seems like worlds away now.
Stratasys
Stratasys is the only one of our 3D printing stock set that is making much progress. The company closed 0.4 per cent higher on the NASDAQ last night, climbing to $112.32 per unit, continuing a nine-day rally.
This is thanks in part to Stratasys' news it is acquiring two companies in order to build an all-powerful service bureau platform.
Stratasys announced on April 2nd that it is acquiring Solid Concepts - the largest independent additive manufacturing service provider in the US - and Harvest Technologies, merging these businesses with its own RedEye offering. Under the agreement terms with Solid Concepts, Stratasys will acquire the Californian organisation for up to $295 million, including a payment on closing of $172 million. Stratasys will acquire Harvest Technologies for an undisclosed amount.
