3D printer stocks 2023

Top 5 3D Printing Stocks to Buy: Desktop Metal ($DM), Protolabs ($PRLB), 3D Systems ($DDD), Plus 2 More To Watch in 2023

3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing, is driving innovation across multiple industries including aerospace and defense, automotive, and manufacturing.

The industry is still considered to be in its infancy as the true potential of 3D printing technology has yet to be fully unlocked. Thanks to the inherently flexible nature of 3D printing, its use cases will continue to grow and evolve over time. While not perfect, there is no doubt that 3D printing will increasingly shape new manufacturing techniques in everything from automobile manufacturing to healthcare in the coming decades.

Analysts have identified this growth industry and expect the global 3D printing market to reach nearly $80 billion in value by 2028, with no signs of slowing down over the coming decades.

Numerous 3D printing companies have tapped the public markets in order to raise capital that will allow them to invest in research and development, scale products, and reduce costs for end users.

There are over a dozen publicly traded 3D printing stocks. Below are the top five 3D printing stocks to watch as well as a list of additional companies:

1. 3D Systems (NYSE: DDD)

More than 35 years ago, 3D Systems introduced the innovation of additive manufacturing to the industry. Today, as a leading additive manufacturing partner, the company brings innovation, performance, and reliability to every interaction. Its list of customers range from Lucid Motors (NASDAQ: LCID) to Airbus to Ignite Orthopedics.

3D Systems recently expanded its portfolio through the introduction of new production-grade materials that are being engineered for long-lasting mechanical performance and stability.

The company says that the new production-grade materials will be ideal for a wide range of end-use applications ranging from consumer goods to transportation to aerospace. The company expects the new materials to be available in Q4 2022.

3D Systems operates a full digital manufacturing ecosystem consisting of plastic and metal 3D printers, print materials, on-demand manufacturing services, and a portfolio of end-to-end manufacturing software.

Shares of 3D Systems trade on the NYSE under the symbol DDD. For more information visit www.3dsystems.com.

2. Protolabs (NYSE: PRLB)

Protolabs is one of the world’s leading providers of digital manufacturing services. The e-commerce-based company offers injection molding, CNC machining, 3D printing, and sheet metal fabrication to product developers, engineers, and supply chain teams across the globe.

The company serves customers using in-house production capabilities that bring unprecedented speed in tandem with Hubs, a Protolabs subsidiary, which serves customers through its network of premium manufacturing partners. Together, Protolabs helps companies bring new ideas to market with the fastest and most comprehensive digital manufacturing service in the world.

The company claims that it is the world's fastest source for digital manufacturing of prototypes and low-volume production parts, with a turnaround time as low as 15 days. Its customers have the ability to upload 3D CAD models online and receive automated quotes with design feedback and pricing detail in as little as a few hours.

The interactive analysis helps eliminate potential manufacturability issues before any actual production happens. Once a design is ready, digital instructions are sent to the production floor where manufacturing begins shortly thereafter.

Shares of Protolabs trade on the NYSE under the ticker symbol PRLB. For more information visit www.protolabs.com.

3. Desktop Metal (NYSE: DM)

Desktop Metal, a global leader in additive manufacturing 2.0 technologies for mass production, recently announced a new multi-faceted partnership aimed at accelerating the adoption of additive manufacturing for production applications with a focus on the world’s largest manufacturers. Desktop Metal says that the new collaboration will include multiple aspects of its business and benefit end-users in a variety of ways.

The two companies will work on specific industrial-scale projects involving data handling and environmental, health and safety topics. Additionally, the new partnership will work to promote the benefits of additive manufacturing 2.0 technologies, with a focus on binder jet 3D printing as a key technology solution that can reduce waste, produce more, and build more resilient supply chains.

Founded in 2015 by leaders in advanced manufacturing, metallurgy, and robotics, Desktop Metal is addressing the unmet challenges of speed, cost, and quality to make additive manufacturing an essential tool for engineers and manufacturers around the world.

Shares trade on the NYSE under the symbol DM. For more information visit www.desktopmetal.com.

4. Stratasys (NASDAQ: SSYS)

Stratasys, a leader in polymer 3D printing solutions, recently signed a definitive agreement to acquire the additive manufacturing materials business of Covestro AG for $43 million euros.

The acquisition is expected to be immediately accretive upon closing for Stratasys and includes R&D facilities and activities, a global sales team, a portfolio of approximately 60 additive manufacturing materials, and an extensive IP portfolio comprising hundreds of patents and patents pending.

Covestro has been a key part of Stratasys’ third-party materials ecosystem, and the acquisition will benefit customers using multiple Stratasys 3D printing platforms, including its Origin P3™, Neo® stereolithography, and h450™ printers. Stratasys is already a distributor of Covestro’s Somos® resins and they are already available for Neo and Origin® One 3D printers.

Stratasys is leading the global shift to additive manufacturing with innovative 3D printing solutions for industries such as aerospace, automotive, consumer products and healthcare. Through smart and connected 3D printers, polymer materials, a software ecosystem, and parts on demand, Stratasys solutions deliver competitive advantages at every stage in the product value chain.

Shares of Stratasys trade on the NASDAQ under the symbol SSYS. For more information visit www.stratasys.com.

5. Velo3D (NYSE: VLD)

Velo3D announced recently that Hermeus, a private company developing hypersonic aircraft for defense and commercial applications, will utilize Sapphire 3D-printing equipment to build parts for Hermeus’ Chimera engine and Quarterhorse aircraft.

The engine is a turbine-based combined cycle engine that will power Hermeus’ first aircraft, Quarterhorse, an autonomous aircraft designed to touch high Mach speeds and prove reusability. Hermeus has planned Quarterhorse’s first flight for 2023.

Velo3D’s metal additive manufacturing technology has seen extensive adoption in the hypersonic and NewSpace industries due to its ability to build the complex, mission-critical parts engineers need without compromising design, quality, or performance. The company says that customers can print existing designs without the need to design the parts for additive manufacturing or obtain specialized training.

Velo3D trades on the NYSE under the ticker symbol VLD. For more information visit www.velo3d.com.

As the 3D printing industry grows in size and scale over the coming decades, numerous market participants will compete to grab market share. Listed below are additional 3D printing stocks to watch in 2023:

Dassault Systemes (OTCMKTS: DASTY)
Materialise (NASDAQ: MTLS)
Nano Dimension (NASDAQ: NNDM)
Faro Technologies (NASDAQ: FARO)
MarkForged (NYSE: MKFG)
Shapeways (NYSE: SHPW)
Voxeljet (NASDAQ: VJET)
Organovo (NASDAQ: ONVO)
Sigma Additive Solutions (NASDAQ: SASI)

For a full list of 3D Printing stocks, quote and news visit: https://greenstocknews. com/stocks/3d-printing-stocks

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5 3D Printing Stocks to Consider in 2022

Back in the early 2010s, stocks were booming for 3D printing -- also known as additive manufacturing, a computer-controlled process in which three-dimensional objects are made. But the boom was followed by a bust as many pure-play 3D printing companies didn't immediately deliver on lofty expectations.

Rumors of the manufacturing technology's demise are clearly premature. These days, 3D printing is a high-growth niche that is steadily reshaping the manufacturing and industrial sectors. Some estimates point to a doubling in annual revenue from additive manufacturing between 2022 and 2026. Even growth investor Cathie Wood has launched a fund focused on manufacturing tech, The 3D Printing ETF (NYSEMKT:PRNT), via her company ARK Invest.

Here's what you need to know about 3D printing and additive manufacturing stocks for 2022:

Image source: Getty Images.

Investing in 3D printing stocks

The manufacturing of products in all corners of the economy is being revolutionized by 3D printing, from healthcare equipment to metal fabrication to housing construction. It's invading so many sectors that tech giants such as Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Autodesk (NASDAQ:ADSK), and HP (NYSE:HPQ) have launched products aimed at 3D printing and additive manufacturing. Other engineering and software outfits such as Dassault Systemes (OTC:DASTY), ANSYS (NASDAQ:ANSS), and Trimble (NASDAQ:TRMB) have also gotten involved in 3D printing technology.

Here are five key players to consider for 2022 that are a more focused bet on 3D printing:

Data source: YCharts. Market cap as of April 19, 2022.
Company	Market Cap	Description
Desktop Metal (NYSE:DM)	$1.3 billion	Recent IPO that focuses on metal fabrication technology.
Stratasys (NASDAQ:SSYS)	$1.5 billion	One of the original 3D printing pioneers, with a wide array of printers and supporting design software.
Xometry (NASDAQ:XMTR)	$1.9 billion	A manufacturing marketplace, including access to on-demand 3D printing services.
3D Systems (NYSE:DDD)	$1.9 billion	Another original 3D printing pioneer and the largest pure-play stock on 3D printing technology.
PTC (NASDAQ:PTC)	$11.7 billion	A manufacturing technology provider with a suite of software and related services for industrial businesses.

1. Desktop Metal

This company is a recent entry into the 3D printing space after going public via a SPAC at the end of 2020. The stock has been a terrible market underperformer since then, losing three-quarters of its value as of spring 2022. However, Desktop Metal could still be a promising investment for the long term.

As its name implies, Desktop Metal develops 3D printing hardware and accompanying design software for metal and carbon fiber parts. The company's smaller systems can handle prototyping and one-off parts, and larger printers are production grade-designed for manufacturing facilities. Desktop Metal serves companies operating in automotive, consumer goods, and heavy industrial equipment businesses.

Despite a tenuous start as a public company, Desktop Metal was actually increasing revenue at a torrid triple-digit pace in 2021. Gross profit margins are thin, and the company generated a steep net loss, but that should improve over time as the business scales its operation. Desktop Metal also has several hundred million dollars in cash and investments to fund its expansion. It used some of these funds to acquire additive manufacturing peer ExOne at the end of 2021.

2. Stratasys

Stratasys was part of the early 2010s 3D printing stock boom and bust, but its business has endured. Sales took a dip early in the COVID-19 pandemic but are rebounding as the Israel-based company picks up new manufacturing contracts.

Stratasys serves a diverse set of customers, including aerospace and automotive parts manufacturers, medical and dental companies, and makers of basic consumer products. In addition to a wide array of 3D printer models, Stratasys develops software to help users accelerate the time between design and final printing.

It isn't the highest-growth name on this list, but Stratasys is profitable (on a free cash flow basis) and has more than $500 million in cash and investments on its balance sheet, as well as no debt. Management thinks its payoff from years of research and development into additive manufacturing will accelerate in 2022.

3. Xometry

This is another newcomer to public markets. Xometry completed its initial public offering (IPO) over the summer of 2021, raising almost $350 million in cash in the process. As is often the case with new IPOs, the stock has underperformed since then. It has lost over half of its value from the time it started trading on public markets, but the business itself is rapidly growing.

Xometry is a marketplace for on-demand manufacturing of prototyping and mass production. It has a network of more than 5,000 suppliers that companies can call on to meet their fabrication needs. Among the suppliers on the Xometry platform are 3D printing companies, injection molding, and automated machining. The company reported having more than 28,000 active buyers utilizing its platform at the end of 2021.

Although it isn't profitable yet, Xometry's unique approach to the 3D printing and additive manufacturing industry is growing fast. Like other names on this list, it has a sizable war chest of cash and short-term investments that it can spend on research and marketing as it tries to attract more suppliers and buyers to its marketplace.

4. 3D Systems

3D Systems was another early player in the 3D printing industry, and while it suffered through the boom-and-bust period of the early 2010s, its business has held steady for much of the past decade. After a brief dip during the early days of the pandemic, 3D Systems is back in growth mode.

The company develops printers and design software for all sorts of materials and industries (medical device makers, dental labs, semiconductor designers, aerospace, and automotive manufacturers). It claims leadership among independent 3D printing companies (as measured by sales). As the 3D printing industry expands in the coming years, 3D Systems thinks it will be able to attract lots of new business with its extensive experience and global reach.

As an established tech outfit in the manufacturing sector, 3D Systems offers investors the prospect of more stable growth, along with profitability. It also has a large net cash position from which it can consolidate its lead in 3D printers and software technology.

5. PTC

By far the largest company on this list, PTC is a longtime technology partner of manufacturing and industrial enterprises. Fast approaching $2 billion in annualized sales and highly profitable, PTC has all the tools needed to digitally transform industrial businesses.

Besides 3D printing computer-aided design software (ANSYS is a peer and software partner that also operates in this space), PTC specializes in augmented reality, industrial IoT (Internet of Things), and product life-cycle management software. Most of its revenue is subscription-based (including its Creo software that enables 3D printing), making for a stable and steadily growing business model that generates ample cash flow. PTC puts spare cash to work developing new products for its partners and makes bolt-on acquisitions of other software companies that enhance its overall portfolio.

As a larger company, PTC won't be the fastest-growing stock in the additive manufacturing and 3D printing space. However, the company has established itself as a leader in industrial technology and should be a primary beneficiary as the production of manufactured goods gets more efficient.

The future of 3D printing

Manufacturing technology is making inroads throughout the global economy by reducing the cost of production and localizing and speeding up the time it takes to deliver customer orders. This is far from mere hype. Nevertheless, as is the case with all technology investments, progress won't go straight up. Expect twists and turns in these stocks as they develop new methods to design and make products.

If you decide to invest, do so in a measured way. Maintain a diversified portfolio, be wary of stocks benefiting from investor over-optimism, and always leave spare cash to invest more when there are inevitable dips. Given enough time -- years and decades -- investing in 3D printing could eventually provide a big payoff.

Investment idea: 3D Systems because 3D printing

Mikhail Gorodilov

makes money on investments

Author profile

expected growth in demand in this area.

Growth potential and duration: 20.5% for 14 months; 54% over 4 years; 11% per year for 15 years.

Why stocks might go up: 3D printing has a great future.

How we act: we take shares now at $32.34.

When creating the material, sources were used that are inaccessible to users from the Russian Federation. We hope you know what to do.

Our thoughts are based on an analysis of the company's business and the personal experience of our investors, but remember: it is not a fact that an investment idea will work as we expect. Everything we write is forecasts and hypotheses, not a call to action. Rely on our thoughts or not - it's up to you.

And what about the author's forecasts

Research, such as this and this, suggests that the accuracy of target price predictions is low. And this is normal: there are always too many surprises on the stock exchange and accurate forecasts are rarely realized. If the situation were reversed, then funds based on computer algorithms would show results better than people, but alas, they work worse.

Therefore, we do not try to build complex models. The profit forecast in the article is the author's expectations. We indicate this forecast for reference: as with the investment idea as a whole, readers decide for themselves whether to trust the author and focus on the forecast or not.

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Investment edition

How the company earns

DDD makes 3D printers and provides services in this area. You can see what the company's printers look like on its website, but for the most part, these are printers for the corporate sector.

According to the annual report, the company's revenue is divided into the following segments.

Goods - 61.2%. A variety of printers: for plastic, for metal, for ceramics, and so on. Specialized software for scanning, design and virtual simulations for the medical sector. The segment's gross margin is 31.6% of its revenue.

Services - 38.8%. Technical support and training services for the company's clients. Production services for the company's customers - from prototyping to more complex projects. Specialized services for the medical sector: surgical planning, printing devices and instruments, building anatomical models, and more. The segment's gross margin is 52.7% of its revenue.

The report lacks detail: it would be useful to know what types of printers the company has - ceramic or metal, how much revenue they generate, and what is the structure of revenue by customer type. We know that the company serves clients from almost every possible industry: everyone always needs to print something large.

Company revenue by country and region:

Americas - 50.25%. The US accounts for 49.47% of the company's total revenue.
Europe, Middle East and Africa - 38.34%.
Asia Pacific - 11.41%.

The company is unprofitable.

Revenue and profit for the last 12 months in billions of dollars, total margin as a percentage of revenue.

Source: Macrotrends

Arguments in favor of the company

Dropped. The company's shares have fallen in price by 41.57% since February of this year: from $55.35 to $32.34. The fall was quite strong and perhaps we can pick up stocks in anticipation of a rebound.

Something about a fast growing market. DDD's target market for 3D printing and related solutions and products is expected to increase from $15 billion in 2021 to $37.2 billion in 2026. More recently, DDD acquired Volumetric Biotechnologies, a biomaterial printing company, perhaps from this, those who believe that soon the missing organs for transplantation can be mass-produced on printers will run into the DDD shares.

The company has not the largest capitalization - 4.05 billion dollars. It is possible that its shares will be easy to pump for retail investors because they read somewhere that "the sector is very promising."

Prose of the market. In general, the company has something to hope for without speculation. In the Proto Labs idea, we have already discussed the good prospects for companies related to R&D and small-scale production due to the expected increase in corporate sector investment around the world in the renewal of fixed assets. And 3D printing is needed primarily for creating prototypes and a small number of parts.

DDD could also benefit from Biden's infrastructure package, which is about to become a reality. This will stimulate the industry and contribute to the demand for DDD solutions: it will increase the wear and tear of the equipment of manufacturing companies and increase their need to invest in the business.

Life has become better. In the latest report, DDD showed progress: the loss ratio of its business is declining - and profit may not be far off. This can attract investors from among banks and funds into shares.

Can buy. DDD has 35 years of additive manufacturing experience with solutions for all industries, from dentistry and surgery to jewelry and high-tech manufacturing. Given all of the above, it may well be bought by some large industrial conglomerate.

What can get in the way

Expensive. The company has a P/S of about 6.55, which is not very low. And if we take into account the unprofitability of the company and the fact that its revenue has not been growing particularly actively in recent years, you can even decide that the company is expensive.

Unprofitable. The company has been on the market for a long time, but it has no profit. Loss will contribute to the volatility of these stocks. Yes, and there is always the possibility of bankruptcy, even taking into account the fact that DDD's accounting is quite accurate: it has enough money to close all urgent debts.

Not all at once. Waves of investor interest in the field of 3D printing periodically give way to disappointment when it suddenly turns out that not every individual user can print their own house yet.

3D printing technology is still quite raw and needs significant improvement: there are problems with a large number of defects, temperature control. So DDD will remain in the position of such a risky startup for some time to come, the technology of which has not yet been fully mastered. This must be understood and accepted in order not to be surprised by the volatility of these stocks.

Hot time puts its test. The company has production and assets around the world, and more than half of its sales are made outside the United States. This means that logistical problems, as well as an increase in the cost of labor and raw materials, will be reflected in its reporting. Well, the permanent threat of a new quarantine must also be taken into account: as the experience of 2020 showed, the DDD business does not respond well to a decrease in industrial activity in the world.

As a result

Shares can be taken now at $32.34. And then there are three options:

wait until shares are worth $39. I think we will reach this level in the next 14 months;
wait until the stock is worth $50. Here, you may have to wait 4 years for 3D printing to become widespread;
hold shares for 15 years to see the company become IBM from the world of 3D printing.

But still, it should be remembered that this idea is very volatile. So don't invest in these stocks unless you're ready for the storm.

3D printing market. Is it time to buy shares? / Habr

In this article I would like to talk about companies, each of which is a "unicorn". Shares of two of the three can already be bought on the New York Stock Exchange. There is a pattern: they were all born in the large Boston metropolitan area. And if Silicon Valley is a Mecca for software startups, then Boston, and especially the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), is the Medina for manufacturing innovation.

I'll make it clear right away: I won't analyze the entire 3D printing market, but will focus on some of the most notable representatives of the desktop 3D printing segment. But even here everything is very conditional, since in the process of improving technology, products smoothly flow from one category to another, and roughly three main categories can be distinguished: desktop, professional and industrial. So…

In 2011, three American students founded Formlabs in their garage. It was headed by Max Lobowski. Born into a family of engineers - emigrants from Ukraine, from his youth he was interested in robotics and new technologies, attended various specialized additional classes in high school. After earning a bachelor's degree from Cornell University, he went on to graduate school at MIT, where he began designing his desktop 3D printer, which is both powerful and affordable.

Max Lobowski

The friends were able to quickly get an angel investment, with which they launched their first product, the Formlabs Form 1 printer, in 2013. On the Kickstarter crowdfunding platform, they managed to raise almost $ 3 million from more than 2,000 bakers from around the world, who were excited about the new product, which promised to make 3D printing accessible to almost everyone. At that time, there were models of printers on the market using the technology of illumination with a laser beam of photopolymer resin (SLA) with a price of 100 thousand dollars, Formlabs offered a printer for 1500 dollars. The company, of course, faced a lot of difficulties in the production of the first batch, but it managed to ship the printers to all buyers. And even though they were far from perfect, this made it possible to attract round A investments in the amount of 19million dollars and return the "angel" money.

The company then continued to improve its product and create an ecosystem like Apple, which includes 3D printers themselves, consumables (resins for various tasks), software for preparing models for printing, and post-processing equipment. In 2019, the company's turnover reached $100 million, in May 2021 it received $150 million in a round of E from the SoftBank Investment Advisers fund, valuing the company at $2 billion. After that, there was talk of an IPO, which would be an absolutely logical step, since investment funds are planning this in the future for 7-10 years, and this period has already come for investors of the first round.

However, despite high market expectations, Max Lobowski said in an interview with BizJournals that he is in no rush to go public: “We would rather take our time and better prepare to be a great public company… We make more money than all 3D -companies taken together that have gone public with the help of SPAC (a procedure that allows startups to go public by merging with another private company). However, when I look at really large, successful, long-term public projects, which is what we are aiming for, I see that they are on a completely different level in terms of predictability and profitability than we are.” These are serious words, and apparently the head of the company has reason to pronounce them. Most likely, the forecast of the company's capitalization in the region of 4-6 billion dollars with a successful initial offering, which will make it the largest company in the market, because even the result of the veteran and long-term market leader - 3DSystems as of August 2021 is no more than 3. 5 billion. dollars.

Unlike the students at Formlabs, Markforged was founded by older guys. However, even here it was not without MIT. MIT alumnus Mark Greg encountered 3D printing while his company was doing a job for the US Navy. Experiments in the field of improving the quality of products led him to the idea of creating a printer that could reinforce the printed model with carbon fiber to make it strong and suitable for use under load.

Employees of the company together with the Metal X printer, Mark Greg is seated to the right of the printer.

The company was founded in 2013, and already in 2014 at the Solidworks World exhibition, the startup presented its first product - the Mark One printer, which had two extruders and could reinforce the printed model with nylon, fiberglass and even Kevlar. Later, The Digital Forge, a cloud-based print management platform, was introduced, and already in 2017, MarkForged announced the release of a Metal X desktop metal 3D printer worth $100,000, while competitors' counterparts cost a million. In 2020, the company's turnover amounted to $ 70 million, and the management decided to bring the company to an IPO using SPAC. The company introduced the concept of additive manufacturing 2.0 to potential investors, allowing the production of finished products rather than prototypes, paving the way for 3D printing to the production of goods. The volume of this market is estimated by experts at 13 trillion dollars.

Based on the Wholers Report, in 2020 the company predicted the growth of the additive technologies market at an average rate of 27%, which means that in the next 8 years from the current 18 billion dollars, the market will grow to 118 billion in 2029 from 10 multiple growth of own revenue up to 700 million dollars already in 2025.

On July 15, 2021, MarkForged was listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker MKFG. The placement was estimated at 2 billion dollars, but a month later the shares lost a little in price, and the current capitalization is about 1. 5 billion dollars. The question remains: is it worth buying shares of a company that plans to be unprofitable for at least another 2 years (the company predicts a turnover of about $100 million this year).

On the one hand, there are enough companies on the market trading at even higher multiples, and on the other hand, 3D printing is not yet such a mature technology that one can be sure of the 100% success of exactly the concept that MarkForged offers. In fact, the company itself considers the emergence of new technologies as one of the risks that could undermine its current technological superiority. In general, investors are now positive about the future of 3D printing. They were impressed by how the technology performed in the first, most difficult months of the pandemic, when production chains were disrupted and many transport arteries stopped working. With the help of 3D printing, it was quickly possible to establish the production of urgently needed valves for ventilation, protective masks, adapters and much more. The concept of distributed production immediately turned from a beautiful idea into a real necessity. So, as always, the coin has two sides, but if you are interested in stocks with great potential, you should at least take a closer look at this company and the market of additive technologies in general.

The last one in my story is DeskTop Metal. Formlabs was created by MIT students, Markforged - MIT graduates, DeskTop Metal was created by experienced entrepreneurs Rick Fulop and Johan Mayerberg, as well as 4 (!) MIT professors. Going to the goal, Rick Fulop founded 6 different companies, also headed an investment fund. Johan Maierberg has been a lead engineer for various companies and became the CTO of DeskTop Metal.

Rick Fulop in front of DeskTop Metal Studio System 9 printers0002 The company's goal was to create an affordable desktop 3D printer that prints metal models. The company immediately became a favorite among investors and attracted investment rounds with enviable constancy.

Among her donors were BMW, Ford Motor, Stratasys (a pioneer in the creation of 3D printing technology), SaudiAramco investment fund, General Electric and others. The total valuation in the latest round reached $2.4 billion, with a paltry $26 million turnover in 2019. The funds received were used for R&D and attracting the best engineers and developers to the company. In 2017, a three-component metal printing system based on FDM layer-by-layer printing technology was introduced, followed by burning and baking the final model. The system was very "raw": a small amount of materials was available for printing, and the printing itself had a lot of restrictions, the final products looked rough with large dimensional errors. Nevertheless, the developments continued, and the company announced its potential star - the Production System, a high-speed metal printing system, which can hardly be called a desktop one. The company claims that its Single Pass Jetting technology is 100 times faster than any other existing metal 3D printing technology, but deliveries of printers should begin only at the end of this year, so in this case you have to take our word for it.

The company entered the IPO on December 10, 2020 under the same SPAC scheme and in its presentation for potential investors outlined the following parameters: planned turnover in 2025 - 942 million dollars, reaching operating profit in 2023, and also indicated that , which plans to spend a significant portion of the proceeds on acquisitions of other 3D printing companies.

Capitalization on the New York Stock Exchange at the time of its IPO on December 10 was a fantastic $6 billion. During the placement, $580 million was raised and the company was assigned the laconic ticker DM. Already in February 2021, the shares rose even more, and the company's capitalization exceeded $8 billion. DM has said it will be the first company in 3D printing history to have a capitalization of over $10 billion. Having received huge funds at its disposal, already in January 2021, DM announced the first takeover deal: the German manufacturer of professional photopolymer 3D printers EnvisionTEC (founded in 2002 and is one of the oldest on the market) was bought for $ 300 million. For me, this choice was not obvious, it is difficult to find something in common between DM and EnvisionTEC and it will be difficult to achieve a significant synergistic effect from this transaction. EnvisionTEC has continued to operate under its own brand as a 100% subsidiary of DM and plans to release a number of new models for its key customers - dental clinics and jewelry companies. Also during this year, several small companies specializing in the production of materials and software were bought. DM expands its patent base due to this and gathers under its wing the best ideas and people. The most high-profile acquisition was the $575 million purchase announced in August of another public company, the American ExOne. Established in 2005 in Pittsburgh, it specializes in the production of industrial 3D printers for creating injection molds from sand and other materials. It is also noteworthy that she managed to commercialize a patent for this technology, issued by MIT back in 1993 year. In this case, we can say that the product lines of DM and ExOne are closer to each other and they have already presented a joint portfolio based on the products of both companies, in which one product complements the other.

It would be logical to assume that DM stock skyrocketed after such high-profile acquisitions, but in reality the opposite happened. Since its peak in February, the shares have fallen 4 times and are now trading at $8 a share, and the capitalization is slightly over $2 billion. Apparently, the first euphoria of investors gave way to a more sober approach to the current results of the company. Perhaps this was influenced by the dissatisfaction of some ExOne shareholders, who considered the sale price of the company unfair and were preparing a class action lawsuit against management in order to block the deal.

Should I buy DM stock now that it has fallen so much, or wait for further decline? I would say that their current level is very comfortable for entry, but, of course, such investments also have a certain risk. This is despite the fact that the company has reported strong first half results, which DM expects to generate over $100 million in revenue this year.

Summing up, I would like to say that a number of stock analysts consider what is happening in the market of additive technologies to be a "renaissance". The market came into motion after the pandemic, which gave everyone hope that the technology was ripe for serious tasks, and that the situation in the industry of 2013-2014 would not repeat itself. Then the technique was still very "raw", but attracted a lot of attention from the press and potential investors. This drove the stocks of market leaders 3DSystems and Stratasys to unknown heights, and then, when there was disappointment in the results of their work, the fall reached 20 times from peak values. Startups bought in batches, not really understanding what to do with them later. Most of these deals only made it harder for companies to focus on their core business. I would like to hope that history will be a good lesson for the new giants of the industry.