We recently compiled a list of the 10 Best 3D Printing Stocks To Buy Right Now. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADSK) stands against the other 3D printing stocks to buy right now.

When 3D printing first became mainstream, it was rumored that the technology could bring about the next industrial revolution. The technology is slowly seeping into every industry. Large energy companies now use 3D printing to develop engineering designs, replacement parts, and prototypes. Only recently, Reuters reported the launch of a 3D-printed neighborhood and hotel in Texas, United States. To this, experts are wondering whether artificial intelligence and 3D printing technology can fix the global housing crisis.

Artificial Intelligence & 3D Printing: A Groundbreaking Intervention

According to a report by Forbes, the 3D printing industry was valued at $14.7 billion in 2023 and is expected to reach $58 billion by 2032. The key challenge hindering the growth of 3D printing is its cost inefficiency, especially for metal 3D printing. However, a combination of artificial intelligence and 3D printing may ramp up the use of 3D printing globally. There are a few companies tirelessly working on bridging the gaps in 3D printing using artificial intelligence. Let’s take a look at what they offer.

Printipal.io is one such example. The company uses artificial intelligence to monitor the printing process so humans do not have to do it themselves. The technology identifies errors and sits through the entire printing process while workers sit back and relax. Some of its features include defect detection, health checks, automation, and remote management. The tool helps minimize waste and improves efficiency significantly.

On the other hand, 1000 Kelvin, a developer of AI solutions for 3D printing, launched AMAIZE in the last quarter of 2023. AMAIZE is a fully AI-powered 3D printing software that is designed to automate the correction of issues and improve accuracy, eliminating the need for multiple revisions and element simulations. The CEO of 1000 Kelvin stresses the need for sustainable solutions to 3D printing. Improving the efficiency of the 3D printing industry can thoroughly optimize the global manufacturing and production sector.

Cathie Wood’s ARK offers a 3D printing ETF but this ETF hasn’t returned anything over the last 5 years and underperformed the market by a large margin. It also gained close to 10% over the last 12 months but still underperformed the market by double digits. You can check out 10 Worst Cathie Wood Stocks to Buy here. 3D stocks as a group haven’t been performing well but some of these stocks may outperform the rest and keep up with the rest of the market.

Now that we have studied the 3D printing industry’s outlook and how the inclusion of AI can improve efficacy, let’s take a look at some pioneers of 3D printing technology.

Our Methodology

To come up with the 10 best 3D printing stocks to buy right now, we went over multiple ETFs, our own rankings, and similar rankings on the internet. We then examined the hedge fund sentiment of each stock and picked the most popular ones. Our list is in ascending order of the number of hedge fund holders, as of Q2 2024.

Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here).

Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADSK)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 55

Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADSK) is a leading software company for designers, engineers, and builders. The 3D printing company helps people create and design anything. Its technology spans architecture, engineering, construction, product design, and manufacturing. Its 3D software program, AutoCAD is its most popular product. Professionals, architects, and engineers use the software to design buildings and 3D models.

The company is leveraging AI to explore new opportunities and capabilities. Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADSK) recently announced they were building Autodesk Forma, an architecture, engineering, construction, and operations (AECO) cloud. The cloud platform will be able to connect project data to unify workflows across teams.

In addition to that, the company is advancing its outcome-based building information modeling (BIM) and customer workflows using artificial intelligence. Having said that, Autodesk AI facilitates the understanding of complex data. The company also launched the beta version of Autodesk Assistant in Autodesk Construction Cloud. With the launch, users can now ask questions about documents using natural language prompts.

In the fiscal second quarter of 2025, Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADSK) logged revenue worth $1.51 billion, up by 12%. Of this, recurring revenue represented 97% of the total revenue. Autodesk’s (NASDAQ:ADSK) growth trajectory proves the company’s strategy is winning. What sets ADSK apart is its ability to capture long-term trends. The company’s growing capital investments supported by increasing reconstruction and infrastructure on a global scale, position ADSK as a market leader in the 3D printing industry.

Polen Focus Growth Strategy stated the following regarding Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADSK) in its Q2 2024 investor letter:

“Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADSK) and Accenture were also notable absolute detractors in the quarter. With Autodesk, most of the stock’s price weakness came in April. The company announced that it would delay the release of its earnings and 10-K filing as it launches an internal investigation regarding its practices on some non-GAAP financial metrics. Upon further analysis, we were encouraged to hear that they were taking this very seriously and being very comprehensive in their investigation. Ultimately, Accenture announced it was closing the investigation and that no re-statements would be required. As discussed in the following section, we chose to exit the position in favor of a more attractive investment.

We sold our small position in Autodesk to help fund our purchase of Shopify. We still think Autodesk is an advantaged business, with 95%+ recurring revenue, dominant in its end market, and nice tailwinds behind digitization in that end market. It should be a durable grower over time, perhaps with continued fits and starts, but we found the risk-reward around Shopify to be more compelling.”

Overall ADSK ranks 1st among the 10 best 3D printing stocks to buy right now. While we acknowledge the potential of ADSK as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than ADSK but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.

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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.