The major 3D printing companies, 3D Systems (DDD) and Stratasys (SSYS), all lowered their 2015/2016 fiscal year outlook several times this year already. This either signal a slowed growth and/or the outlook before was glorified beyond reality.
Moreover, both 3D Systems and Stratasys had been fueling their earnings and/or EPS via M&A (organic growth) rather than from pure market growth. M&A is a two-way street. While the asset/liabilities and market shares are transferred over, it’s a very cash-intensive process. Not only does it burn tons of cash, it will also diluted share value. Credit ratings aren’t particularly appealing for these companies as well, so raising debt is out of the equation. And to make things worst, Stratasys has recently written off Makerbot acquisition on their book. Marketbot is widely regarded as the forefront and leader of consumer 3D printer provider. Makerbot also created a B2C/C2C secondary 3D printing market.
There is definitely a lot of use in the commercial prototyping stage, but unless these 3D printers price and ease-of-use are improved, consumers will have a steep learning curve, making adoption and proliferation a challenge. 3D Systems has been vertically bundling the 3D printing packages (3D scanner, AutoCAD, 3D printer, printing filament) for about 2 years now, but price point still out of reach for ordinary consumers.
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