Real Value of 3D Printing Stocks
As it always happens that with every new technology there is a factor of hype and risk involved. The story is not very different in the case of 3D Printing companies. It has really been a roller coaster ride for some companies in the past 6 months. Here is the chart for the 4 major 3D Printer manufacturers 3D Sysytems (DDD) , Stratasys (SSYS) , ExOne (XONE) and Voxeljet AG (VJET).
As seen in the graph, the companies follow a similar pattern in terms of stock price in the last 6 months. Contradicting what most analysts believe that the revenues reported by some of these companies is what is helping them bounce back. It really is the market forces and the consumer sentiment that is driving them. The dip seen from May- June 2014 can be attributed to the fact that the investors expected better returns from other relatively established sectors like Oil & Gas, FMCG companies. Hence it was not a great prospect to invest in 3D Printing Technology which still seemed to be in a similar situation like .com in the 90's.
Coming to the important question, how can we know the real value of the 3D Printing stocks? Are they still over-valued? Putting things in perspective 3D Systems currently has a P/E ratio of 146 whereas Facebook has a P/E ratio of 86. Both are technology stocks with good potential upside in the future. With the market still realizing 3D Printing applications it is difficult to put a value on the stocks at the moment. But no one can ignore the potential the technology holds and how it can disrupt manufacturing.












