Stratasys, Ltd. (SSYS), 3D Systems Corporation (DDD): Not All 3D Printers Are Making It Big

A company with losses and growing expenses

ExOne Co (NASDAQ:XONE) hasn’t been fairing as well as the other two major 3-D printing companies. The other two companies focus on 3-D printing with plastics while ExOne offers metal printing as well. This is a great diversity of products, but perhaps the market just doesn’t want them at this point.

The company posted a loss of 20 cents per share for the first quarter. This was lower than expectations by a full 9 cents. ExOne says the main reason for the lower performance was lagging sales in Europe.

There is some good news in this earnings release. The company sold five commercial 3-D printers in the first quarter of 2013. They range from $100,000 to $1.4 million. In the first quarter of 2012, the company didn’t sell any. For all of last year, the company sold just 13. So this year could still turn around.

Operating expenses will be on the rise as ExOne continues to scale up to meeting global demand. The company has already seen a 110% increase in selling, general, and administrative expenses. This will likely grow throughout this year. This just isn’t the best investment right now.

Final thoughts

Even in a hot industry with lots of buzz, not every company is worthy of investors. Look beyond the smoke and see what the companies are really showing investors. In this case, stick with Stratasys, Ltd. (NASDAQ:SSYS) or 3D Systems Corporation (NYSE:DDD). Hold on to these stocks if you already own them or put them on your watch list to keep an eye on.

The article Not All 3-D Printers Are Making It Big originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Austin Higgins.

Austin is a member of The Motley Fool Blog Network — entries represent the personal opinion of the blogger and are not formally edited.

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