Out Fox The $treet

After the close, 3D Systems (DDD) reported the delayed Q4 results. The 3D printing company has finally completed a turnaround and returned to growth though the stock trades far off the lows already.

Stratasys smashed Q4 EPS estimates providing another sign of a bottom in the 3-D printing sector. Despite a big rally off the lows, the stock isn't expensive on valuation multiples. The recommendation is to buy Stratasys on any dips as the recent rally is stretched. After Thursday's rally, Stratasys (NASDAQ: SSYS ) is only back to the levels where the stock started the year. In fact, my  previous research  discussed how the 3-D printer manufacturer was attractive at these similar levels in November though the stock would likely provide a better buying opportunity at the start of this year.  Read the full article at Seeking Alpha.  Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please read the disclaimer page for more details.

 Summary 3D Systems releases preliminary Q314 results. Investors should avoid the stock. . The original thesis warned investors to tread lightly into the stock until improved operations despite the more attractive valuation. .  Prior to the open, 3D Systems ( DDD ) warned that Q314 numbers would fall far short of estimates. The company suggested that direct metal printer production failed to achieve scale. The news continues a pattern of the fast-growing 3D printer manufacturer disappointing investors.  Read full article at Seeking Alpha.   Disclosure:No positions mentioned. Please read the disclaimer page for more details.

Summary Growth at Stratasys comes at a cost. 3D printing stocks have rebounded sharply from the Spring swoon. 3D Systems buyout rumors suggest a very aggressive price. After warning investors that the 3D printing stocks were too expensive back in early January and hoping for a selloff, investors now face a sector that has rebounded too far. Stratasys ( SSYS ) plunged below $90 back in May providing an interesting entry point, but do investors really want to own the stock at the current levels back above $115? Investors are now bullish on the sector especially after news that fellow 3D printing stock 3D Systems ( DDD ) had canceled attendance at a conference fueling buyout speculation last week. Read the full article  at Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Along with Q413 earnings , 3D Systems ( DDD ) made the proclamation that it would reach revenue of $1 billion during 2015. While the news generated a great deal of buzz, especially considering analysts only forecast revenue of around $900 million, the real deal is that the company will again print the revenue via acquisitions instead of organic growth. As with the guidance for declining earnings in 2014, the company continues to focus on growth over profits. The company is a leading provider of 3-D printers, print materials, and on-demand customer parts for professionals and consumers. After a recent stock slide, 3D Systems has a market value of nearly $8 billion, with revenue forecasted to average $700 million in 2014. Read the full article at Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

A recent report by the Feedonia group is bullish on 3-D printing growth through 2017 , but industry numbers make one question the valuations of 3-D printing stocks. Typically, investors are willing to pay up for fast-growing stocks, but in certain scenarios the price paid can rob growth from future years. Review the Internet bubble years and see how even the top stocks spent years -- if not the next decade -- with revenue growing and the share price flat to down. In this case, the top 3-D printing stocks --  3D Systems ( NYSE: DDD     ) , Stratasys ( NASDAQ: SSYS     ) , and ExOne ( NASDAQ: XONE     )  -- trade at earnings and revenue multiples suggestive of explosive growth. In reality, industry demand is expected to grow around 20% according to Feedonia through 2017, or at about the same rate as the last five years. Other widely respected industry resources, such as Wohlers, place the growth at higher rates. Either way, th...

For investors that love the long-term story of the 3D printing sector, the disappointing guidance from Stratasys ( SSYS ) has a silver lining. The stock and the sector were clearly overheating and anything that can cool off both without signaling an end to the long term of the sector growth helps provide an entry point for new investors. Stratasys manufactures 3D printers and materials for personal use, prototyping, and production. The company is in the process of integrating the Objet and MakerBot acquisitions. Investors should expect some level of lumpiness in the financials from such major mergers so the news today isn't all that surprising unless an investor paid 50x forwarding earnings for the stock in the expectation of perfect numbers. Read the full article for Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

The combination of 3D printing projected to grow annually at 20% and the substantial stock gains in 3D Systems ( DDD ) should already concern longs. The sector is undoubtedly hot and growing sharply, but new investors are paying up front for years of 30% growth long into the future. 3D Systems is a leading provider of 3D printers, print materials, and on-demand customer parts for professionals and consumers. The company has a market value approaching $10 billion, but revenue is only set to reach $515 million in 2013. Even more concerning is the stock price sitting near $100 and earnings per share likely to not even reach a $1. The stock has even gained so much in the last few months that the chart below even shows it out of touch with fellow competitor Stratasys ( SSYS ) . Read the full article at Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

As Proto Labs ( NYSE: PRLB     ) gains day after day, investors need to be reminded of  ExOne 's   ( NASDAQ: XONE     ) stock collapse in the related rapid prototyping sector. Like ExOne , Proto Labs stock soared to $80 from below $30 during the last year. . But after ExOne shares' major collapse in the last month, Proto Labs' investors need to understand that further stock gains could set it up for a similar fate. Proto Labs is a quick-turn manufacturer of custom parts for prototyping, while ExOne develops machines for producing additive manufacturing parts -- commonly referred to as 3D printers. In general terms, these two stocks work to improve the process of developing new products. Both companies' quick revenue growth has led to massive share-price gains that their respective fundamentals probably don't support. Read the full article here . Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details....

For such a hot sector, the 3D printing leaders are showing surprisingly low organic growth. Leader 3D Systems ( DDD ) reported only 22.1% organic growth for the latest quarter while Stratasys Ltd ( SSYS ) only managed 18% after merging with Objet. Those aren't exactly the growth rates expected of stocks with forward earnings multiples of over 35x estimates. The sector is very profitable and has huge potential, but several other sectors have higher growth rates. For 3D Systems, the revenue growth numbers are even worse if you look at the revenue per share. That number only increased 9% year-over-year to $1.11 from $1.02 due to a higher share count. For an acquisitive company, this calculation takes out the impact of shares issued and such similar to earnings per share. For any shareholder, the more important fact isn't the actual top and bottom line growth, but the total growth per share. Read the full article at Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: No positions ment...

As warned back after the massive IPO gains, ExOne Company ( XONE ) was set up for a potentially rocky public market experience. The company only reported $28.7 million in revenue for all of 2012 and had a limited experience of actually selling 3D printers. The 3D industrial printer company focuses on manufacturing and selling 3D printing machines in fact didn't even sell a machine in Q1 of 2012. The stock surged to $49 prior to the earnings report after initially pricing the offering at $18 providing those initial investors with over a 170% gain in roughly four months. The Q113 numbers though were shockingly disappointing as the company yet again missed estimates blaming European weakness. Read the full article at Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: No position mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

The 3D printing and rapid prototyping sector entered 2013 as one of the hottest sectors. After a new IPO, finalization of a game-changing merger, continuous questions regarding the sector leader, and a rocky few months, the sector presents a different picture as the first quarter comes to an end. While the equity markets might have taken a pause as the sector got overheated, designers are moving full steam ahead into this area. Nike ( NKE ) recently unveiled its first football cleats featuring a 3D-printed plate. The plate is crafted using Selective Laser Sintering technology that uses high-powered lasers to fuse small particles of materials into 3D shapes. Read the full article at Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: No stocks mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Stratasys, Ltd. ( SSYS ) plans to report the first earnings on March 3rd since the completion of the Objet merger last December. The market will want to see the guidance provided for the combined company after nearly a year since the original announcement of the merger. The huge gain since the accretive deal became a reality will place a great importance on the reality of the accretion level. The company manufactures 3D printers and materials for prototyping and production. It offers a range of 3D printers and 120 3D printing materials. With the huge sector selloff since mid-January, the market has become increasingly concerned about the stock. Negative analysis continues to surface regarding competitor 3D Systems ( DDD ) providing Stratasys with the opportunity to become the recognized leader in the sector. In addition, the recent IPO of ExOne ( XONE ) provides more competition for 3D industrial sales and investor cash. Read the full article at Seeking Alpha. ...

While the whole market is going crazy over 3D printing and rapid prototyping technologies, Proto Labs (NYSE: PRLB ) remains a relatively unknown equity. The stock regularly trades fewer than 100,000 shares in a day, while sector leaders 3D Systems (NYSE: DDD ) and Stratasys (NASDAQ: SSYS ) regularly trade over 1M shares in a day. The company is a leading online and technology-enabled quick-turn manufacturer. Its motto is “Real Parts, Real more » Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

After finalizing the Objet merger and surging to new all-time highs, what is the prognosis for Stratasys, Ltd. (SSYS) ? After a major sell off to $57.77 back in early November, our analysis suggested the sector was ripe for investing. At the time, 3D Systems (DDD) remained the preferred stock in the sector. So what should investors do now? Even with valuations sky high, the sector remained relatively obscure until recently. The December announcement by Staples (SPLS) of in-store 3D printing plans and the recent segment focus by Jim Cramer on his Mad Money show is pushing the sector into the overheated area. Read the full article at Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

On Friday, Staples (SPLS) announced that it intends to launch a service providing 3D printing capabilities at stores in the Netherlands and Belgium beginning in Q113. While private companies such as Shapeways already provide the ability for designers to create and market 3D printed products, it doesn't have a store in every major city where customers can pick up the products. Staples is already a leading provider of printed items so this was only a natural extension for the company. Honestly, it already seems odd that 3D printing demand has started to explode, yet the majority of household technology companies aren't involved. Read the full article at Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

The Direct Digital Manufacturing and 3D printing sector remains hot with the strong results reported by Stratasys, Inc. (SSYS) Friday morning. The stock, though, was smashed 12% as investors fretted over inline Q4 guidance. Stratasys engages in the development, manufacture, marketing, and servicing of three-dimensional (3D) printers, rapid prototyping (RP) systems, and related consumable materials for office-based RP and direct digital manufacturing (DDM) markets. As written back in September, with the stock trading on Objet highs, Stone Fox Capital warned that investors were placing too much emphasis on a complex merger. At that point, the stock was valued as if the merger would complete without any hitches. Read the full article at Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: No position mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

As mentioned prior, the 3D printing sector has appealing growth potential, but the valuations of the two main players have typically been at elevated levels. The stocks of 3D Systems (DDD) and Stratasys, Inc. (SSYS) were expensive in spite of the fast growth rates until the September swoon. Now 3D Systems can add a short attack to the equation. The company is a leading provider of 3D content-to-print solutions including 3D printers, print materials and on-demand custom parts services for professionals and consumers alike. As written back on October 10th with the stock around $34, the sell-off provided a good entry point into the stock and the sector. A great Q3 earnings report helped counter the short theory and sent the stock surging to over $42 before the market closed for two days. Read the full article at Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Investors have been hyped since the announcement of the proposed merger of Stratasys (SSYS) and private Objet back in April. The deal promised to create a market leader in the surging 3D printing market. Stratasys engages in the development, manufacture, marketing, and servicing of three-dimensional (3D) printers, rapid prototyping (RP) systems, and related consumable materials for office-based RP and direct digital manufacturing (DDM) markets. While the effectiveness of the merged company remains a question, no doubts should exist that the stock has been a homerun since the deal was announced in April. By mid-August, Stratasys had nearly doubled. Read the full article at Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Prior to the open on Wednesday, SodaStream (SODA) posted earnings that handily beat analyst estimates and initially sent the stock soaring nearly 10% in pre market trading. Revenues soared 49% year-over-year and net income soared 43% from last year. The company is a leading manufacturer of home beverage carbonation systems. Even though the company also raised guidance, the stock ended the trading day in negative territory. Read the full article at Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: Long SODA. Please review the disclaimer page for more details.