3D Systems Research
Delivered March 6, 2020. Contributor: Gail
Goals
To understand why the stock price for 3D Systems (symbol: DDD) rose so dramatically through 2012 and 2013, and then crashed in 2014 and 2015. An ideal response would provide some reasons for this. Early Findings
- There were likely several factors that may have contributed to 3D Systems' big sell-off. Five reasons cited by the Motley Fool are a very high valuation, disappointment with earnings, bearishness, increased competition in their sector, and a general poor industry sector performance that 3D was a part of.
- In the two years through 2013 3D Systems enjoyed an 800% surge in its stock. Experts, at the time, maintained that 3D Systems was a more attractive long term investment than some tech companies like Facebook or Apple. However, near the end of 2013, as cautionary signs appeared that the rally couldn’t last regardless of the technology’s promise, things took a turn for the worse.
- "3D Systems effort to explain the sharp pullback in unit demand was lacking", Oppenheimer analyst Holden Lewis wrote at the time.
- Experts predicted that a global 3D printing market worth about $1.2 billion would double in size by 2015. By the end of 2012, it basically had."
- In the autumn of 2015, 3D Systems, signaled it would close down a facility in Massachusetts. By the end of that same year, the firm indicated that it would cease selling its Cube desktop 3D printers. To put it simply, 3D Systems had issues competing with smaller desktop 3D printing startups with less overhead and cheaper printers.
- "3D Systems stock soared during the 3D printing stock craze in 2012 and 2013, but came crashing back down to earth in 2014 and has been in the red since." Fast forward to 2019 and shares were down 7.6% over the last year through March 27, trailing those of rival Stratasys, which were up 17%, and the S&P 500, which returned 9.6%.
Summary Of Our Early Findings Relevant To The Goals
- Our initial hour of research provided reasons why the stock price for 3D Systems (symbol: DDD) rose so dramatically through 2012 and 2013, and then crashed in 2014 and 2015. We provided a numerous news stories and media sources to explain the reasons, according to experts at the time,
- We used older sources as this was an historical look at the question.
- Please select one or more of the options provided in the proposed scoping section below.
Proposed next steps:
You need to be the project owner to select a next step.
As the initial question was answered, we are suggesting research that examines and explores the 3D printing industry as a whole. This would include 7-10 pieces of information, data, and/or statistics that surround how the industry started, how it progressed, and where the industry stands now. This will be an agnostic geographic focus, meaning we will cover the geographic areas where the research dictates. Please check this box if we should proceed with this research.
Additionally, we are suggesting 2-3 case studies of 3D printing companies that also struggled during the same time period as 3D Systems. We will not include 3D Systems as that was covered in the initial hour of research. This will be an agnostic geographic focus, meaning we will cover the geographic areas where the research dictates. Please check this box if we should proceed with this research.
We are also proposing research that provides 2-3 current and/or future 3D printing trends. For each trend identified, we will provide what the trend is, a description of the trend, and 1-2 thought leaders or industry experts discussing the trend OR 1-2 examples of companies leaning into the trend. This will be an agnostic geographic focus, meaning we will cover the geographic areas where the research dictates. Please check this box if we should proceed with this research.