3D Printers Featured at Maker Faire: How about 3D Printer Stocks?

3D printers have come a long way. They first came about during the 1980's, but they were large and clunky, and the products they produced were limited. Now you can print everything from cars to bikinis to houses. The 3D printers were recently featured at the Maker Faire in New York where advancements in this technology were demonstrated.

There are several companies that have jumped on the 3D printing bandwagon, both from a software and hardware standpoint. According to WallStreetNewsNetwork.com, there are ten 3D printing stocks in the 3D printing arena.

Let's start with an overlooked area of 3D printers, the software. After all, you need a way to run these printers. Autodesk, Inc. (ADSK) makes 3D software for many different industries, everything from entertainment to architecture to manufacturing. The stock trades at 26.5 times trailing earnings and a forward price to earnings ratio of 15. Earnings for the latest reported quarter were down 9.3% on a 4.1% increase in revenues. The company has no debt, and has $1.5 billion dollars in the bank, amounting to 6.31 per share in cash. It does not currently pay a dividend.

In regards to hardware, there is Stratasys, Inc. (SSYS), which produces three-dimensional printers, rapid prototyping systems, and related consumable materials. This Minnesota based company was founded in 1989. Although the latest quarterly earnings dropped by 24.4%, revenues increased 30.7%. This is another debt free company which has $51 million in cash. The stock trades at 70 times trailing earnings and 38.5 times forward earnings.

3D Systems Corporation (DDD), a Rock Hill, South Carolina based company, makes and sells 3D printers and related products, including the Cubify.com 3D @home experience and the Kinect-to-print app powered by Geomagic. 3D Systems was founded in 1986. The stock trades at 62 times current earnings and 26 times forward earnings. Earnings for the latest quarter dropped by 37.8%, yet the company had a 51.7% rise in sales. The company has $158.5 million in cash and approximately $140 million in debt.

For a free list of the companies involved in 3D printing, which can be downloaded, sorted, and updated, go to WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.

Disclosure: Author owns ADSK and DDD.

By Stockerblog.com

You might also want to check out the following video on how houses can be built in just 20 hours with a 3D printer.