3. Stratasys Ltd. (NASDAQ: SSYS)
Number of hedge fund holders: 24
Stratasys Ltd. (NASDAQ: SSYS) is a Minnesota-based company that makes 3D printers and production systems for offices. It was founded in 1989 and is placed third on our list of 10 best cheap tech stocks to buy according to Cathie Wood. ARK Investment holds 10.4 million shares in the firm worth over $269 million, representing 0.53% of their portfolio. The company stock has offered investors returns exceeding 16% over the course of the past twelve months. The firm serves several markets like automotive, aerospace, medical, and education, among others.
In earnings results for the first quarter of 2021, posted on May 5, Stratasys Ltd. (NASDAQ: SSYS) reported earnings per share of -$0.06, missing market predictions by $0.06. The revenue for the first three months of the year was over $134 million, up 1% year-on-year.
Out of the hedge funds being tracked by Insider Monkey, New York-based investment firm Renaissance Technologies is a leading shareholder in Stratasys Ltd. (NASDAQ: SSYS) with 3.1 million shares worth more than $80 million.
Just like Square, Inc. (NYSE: SQ), Spotify Technology S.A. (NYSE: SPOT), Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA), Palantir Technologies Inc. (NYSE: PLTR) and Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU), Stratasys Ltd. (NASDAQ: SSYS) is one of the best stocks to buy according to Cathie Wood.
In its Q1 2021 investor letter, Alger, an asset management firm, highlighted a few stocks and Stratasys Ltd. (NASDAQ: SSYS) was one of them. Here is what the fund said:
“Short position Stratasys also contributed to performance. Stratasys is one of the larger 3D printing companies. While additive manufacturing (3D printing) is a revolutionary concept, it has only seen its primary adoption for manufacturing prototypes and test parts, not high-volume end-use parts. Unfortunately for incumbents like Stratasys, additive manufacturing has continued to attract capital and dozens of new entrants have emerged with new technologies targeting specific applications. Industry pioneers like Stratasys have seen key patents expire and have lost market share to new competition. As a result of these factors, Stratasys has not grown for five years. Some industry participants believe that Stratasys’ plastic extrusion technology is simply too slow to be an acceptable solution for higher volume manufacturing. The short position contributed to portfolio returns when Stratasys’ shares declined due to year-over-year revenue contraction, continuing market share losses, a talent exodus, the issuance of new shares via a secondary offering, and no significant progress on developing new opportunities in promising additive verticals like metal and dental.”
