Most (large and small) 3D printing companies are growing, and growing fast. Stratasys, the industry’s second largest (only a few million dollars a year behind 3D Systems, based on the last full FY) in the world, is reporting 35% organic growth in its second fiscal quarter, with $178.5 million in revenues, of which $33.6 million come from MakerBot alone. In total, the company sold 14,909 3D printing systems (desktop and professional) during the quarter.
In case that isn’t entirely clear, steadily growing at 35% year on year would mean that the company would double its revenues in little over 2 years. When the company speaks of organic growth, it means the growth from its activities as they were at the end of the last fiscal year, thus, not including this year’s significant acquisitions, such as Solid Concepts and Harvest Technologies.
In fact, the full revenue growth, including acquisition, adds up to +67% and the fact that the company chose not to emphasize this data is, in my opinion, significant of its will to target solid and sustainable growth, rather than aim for high visibility and purely financial interests. Stratasys is now sitting on 577.9 million in cash and cash equivalent, which came from the cumulative sale of 99,529 3D printers total, to date, with its 100,000th system within sight.
In spite of all its investments, both in acquisition and R&D (the company invested a net amount of $17.6 million on a non-GAAP basis), and in part because of them, Stratasys registered a Non-GAAP net income that grew 51% to $28 million over the same period last year, and a GAAP lost of 173,000, which is basically no loss and no gain. That is also good news, when compared to a $2.8 million net GAAP loss in the second quarter of the previous FY.
David Reis, Chief Executive Officer of Stratasys, could not help but comment on the results enthusiastically: “We continue to observe strong positive sales momentum for our higher-performance systems and materials, which is reflected in the impressive 35% organic revenue growth we generated during the second quarter”
“Equally impressive”, added the CEO, “were the sales of MakerBot products and services, which contributed $33.6 million of revenue during the period, driven by our expanding distribution network and the successful launch of three MakerBot branded 3D printers in the first half of the year. We are very pleased with our second quarter results, which represent quarterly records in revenue, non-GAAP net income and non-GAAP earnings per share.”
Stratasys is now targeting revenues between $750 million and $770 million, versus a previous guidance of $660-$680 million. It is also now forecasting its long term annual organic growth to 25%, updating the previously forecast of 20%. The company is additionally projecting a significant expansion of its operating expense in 2014, compared to 2013, driven by investments to support the MakerBot brand, increased R&D, and the costs of integrating Solid Concepts and Harvest Technologies into its network. It’s hard to imagine that this could not yield even better results in the longer run.
Disclosure: the author of this article owns Stratasys stock, and stocks in all pure play 3D printer manufacturers.
