Bear
The 3D printing industry has been experiencing a year of uncertainty on the stock markets thus far in 2014, but that has not stopped Stratasys reporting a 54 per cent rise in revenue for the January-March period.
The additive manufacturing technology developer and manufacturer reported a GAAP revenue of $150.9 million, which is up from the $97.2 million recorded last year, while net income for the three-month period was $4.1 million, compared to a loss of $15.5 million in 2014.
Non-GAAP net income for the first quarter of 2014 was $20.6 million - which is a healthy year-on-year rise compared to the $17.6 million logged for Q1 2013.
Total non-GAAP revenue rallied by 54 per cent between January and March and if MakerBot's products and services are removed from the equation this figure is still up by one-third year-on-year. MakerBot's business contributed $20.6 million to Stratasys' Q1 figures, which is a 79 per cent increase over the revenue the consumer 3D printing giant generated as an independent company this time last year - prior to Stratasys' acquisition of the Brooklyn-headquartered business.
Despite this good news and the bonuses MakerBot is bringing to the company overall, Stratasys is maintaining a realistic guidance for 2014, reiterating GAAP net income for the 12-month period to approach between $10.5 million and $19.9 million and revenue guidance of $660 million to $680 million.
By the end of the year, Stratasys will have finalised its major acquisitions of both Harvest Technologies and Solid Concepts.
CEO David Reis said this deal would "help drive incremental growth opportunities" for Stratasys.
"We continue to position Stratasys for future growth through enhancements to our organisational structure, and through strategic investments in channel, product and technology development. We believe these investments, combined with our ongoing acquisitions strategy, will support our growth objectives and position of market leadership going forward," he continued.
At start of play on the NASDAQ today (May 9th), Stratasys shares (NASDAQ:SSYS) were down by 5.2 per cent to $89.34 per unit.
Main rival 3D Systems (NYSE:DDD) did not fare much better, sliding by 1.6 per cent to 46.88 per unit - an ongoing downward trend for the business. Metal additive manufacturing giant ExOne (NASDAQ:XONE) slid by 1.6 per cent to $33.58 per unit, while Voxeljet (NYSE:VJET) was the only 3D printing stock to maintain some stability, maintaining its week-long plateau at $13.98.
