The industry for 3D printing that was riding on a bubble had taken a hit in May 2014 when ExOne Co (NASDAQ:XONE) reported a decline in revenue by 8% to $7.3 million in the 1st quarter for the year. The revenue reported failed to meet the expectation of analysts who had targeted a revenue of $10 million. There was also a fall in the gross margin to 22.2% compared to 35.8% for the same period last year.
In comparison, 3D Systems Corporation (NYSE:DDD) also reported in April, a fall in gross profit margin by 130 basis points to 51.1%. The ExOne Co (NASDAQ:XONE) stock fell almost 14% on May 15. It saw an all-time high of $78.80 last year due to the bubble that the industry was riding at that time.
Moreover, ExOne Co.’s (NASDAQ:XONE) disappointed earnings release also cast its shadow other peers in the industry with stocks like VoxelJet AG ADR (NYSE:VJET) and Stratasys Ltd. (NASDAQ:SSYS) falling 6% and 4% respectively.
In a recent discussion with Alan Meckler, who is the Fund Manager for the ‘3D Printing and Technology Fund,’ anchor Pimm Fox from ‘Taking Stock’ on Bloomberg TV spoke about the recent 3D printing trade show in Seoul, South Korea were a lot of South Korean companies highlighted their 3D printing capabilities.
Asked about which of these companies caught his interest, Meckler said none of these companies are public, and he found a company called ‘Rokit’ and the CEO of the company told him that they would be the greatest in 3D desktop printing by 2017.
Speaking about the industry challenges, Meckler said:
“I don’t think there is any challenge, I think the biggest challenge is, unfortunately, in the news that people are getting ahead of themselves, not understanding that it’s not 3D printers in the home, its 3D printing in manufacturing.”
Meckler said that his fund was based on Long-term investing and was up by 3.3% in the first month, and they took a hit when the major players fell by around 40%.
Alok Agrawal‘s hedge fund Bloom Tree Partners initiated a position in ExOne Co (NASDAQ:XONE) during the first quarter of 2014 and now owns 147,588 shares of the company. Tiger Global Management Llc, managed by Chase Coleman and Feroz Dewan is the largest shareholder of the company amongst all the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey, it holds 665,000 shares of ExOne Co (NASDAQ:XONE).
Disclosure: none
