• 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.