3D Systems Corporation (DDD), Stratasys, Ltd. (SSYS), ExOne Co (XONE): Should You Invest in 3D Printing Services?

ExOne Co (NASDAQ:XONE)’s printers are also quite expensive. Depending on the model, a printer’s price may range from $100,000 to $1.5 million! This limits the company’s market considerably. The company is said to have about 1.3% total market share, but expects that to grow in 2013 to 3%.

How big can the 3D printing industry get?

Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry from The Business Insider has called this industry the next trillion dollar industry. Is that true?

One of the most respected authorities on the additive manufacturing and 3D printers industry, Wholer’s Associates, give us a hint. This chart was presented in the 3D Systems Corporation (NYSE:DDD) January 2013 presentation:

The industry will show strong double-digit growth over the next several years. By 2017, sales of 3D printing products and services will reach $6 billion worldwide. By 2021, sales will reach $10.8 billion. These numbers don’t include the prototyping service industry, either; they only refer to printers and directly-associated products and services. Just last year, the market for products and services grew 28.6% to $2.204 billion!

Naturally, more than one company is interested in joining this industry as soon as possible. Wohlers mentions that 16 companies in Europe, seven in China, five in the U.S., and two in Japan now manufacture and sell 3D printing systems. Needless to say, savvy investors are also excited about this new technology.

The bottom line

In this article, I reviewed the prospects of the 3D printing industry and analyzed three American stocks with direct exposure to this promising new market. While I believe that the 3D printing industry is currently growing at an amazing rate, as investors we need to be careful with the current overvaluation of 3D printing stocks. It seems that too many investors have got interested in this new technology too early. That being said, I think that 3D Systems Corporation (NYSE:DDD) and Stratasys, Ltd. (NASDAQ:SSYS) are worth watching carefully, despite their high price-to-earnings ratios.

The article Should You Invest in 3D Printing Services? originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Adrian Campos.

Adrian Campos has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Stratasys and The ExOne Company. The Motley Fool owns shares of Stratasys. Adrian 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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