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While 2017 may not have been an ideal year for 3D printing on Wall Street, a handful of companies still rose to the challenge this year. Here’s a look back at the top performing 3D printing stocks of 2017.
While 2017 may not have been the best year for 3D printing companies, it’s an ever-changing and evolving industry with no shortage of investment opportunities.
Despite the struggles the industry may have faced this year, the industry is continuously making progress, which should be good news for 3D printing investors.
Here, the Investing News Network (INN) takes a look back to the top performing 3D printing stocks of 2017, indicating the sector is still thriving and full of promise. The companies list below have market caps of roughly $1 billion and under.
Voxeljet AG (NYSE:VJET)
Market cap: $95.92 million; current share price: $5.12; year-to-date gain: 78.4 percent
First on our top 3D printing stocks of 2017 list is Voxeljet a manufacturer of 3D printing systems for industrial applications. The company provides services to industries ranging from foundries, automative, reverse engineering, aerospace, pumps and heavy industry, architecture, art and design, and film and museums.
Voxeljet’s portfolio ranges from research systems to 3D systems for large-formate production and a chemical 3D printing process: powder binder jetting, which assists with flexibility and productivity.
In Q4 of 2017, Voxeljet reported its Q3 financial results, highlighting that its revenue had increased by 50.8 percent in Q3.
Materialise NV (NASDAQ:MTLS)
Market cap: $605.54 million; current share price: $12.65; year-to-date gain: 65.41 percent
Next is Materialise who has been in the business for over a quarter of a century. The company provides software solutions and 3D printing services, and has a portfolio of over 95 patents and 165 more in the works.
With headquarters in Belgium, the company’s 3D printing applications can be found in industries including healthcare, automotive, aerospace, art and design, and customer goods.
In Q4 2017, the company announced a new innovation that will enable users to drive down costs for metal 3D printing, which will also help save time. Materialise also announced in Q4 that it together with SYNNEX will deliver a 3D printing package for large scale manufacturing.
SLM Solutions (FRA:AM3D)
Market cap: EU$782.48 million; current share price: EU$44.08; year-to-date gain: 36.47 percent
Middle of the pack is SLM Solutions, a company based in Germany. SLM Solutions Group AG’s focus is in the area of industrial design and rapid manufacturing while producing and distributing selective laser melting systems. The industries SLM Solutions provides its services to includes the automotive, aviation and aronatuics, tooling, medical and dental, and research and education.
Stratasys (NASDAQ:SSYS)
Market cap: $1.15 billion; current share price: $21.92; year-to-date gain: 32.95 percent
No list would be complete without Stratasys.
Since 1988, Stratasys has largely operated in the healthcare, aerospace, automotive and education markets. The company holds over 600 granted or pending additive manufacturing patents globally.
Some of its key patents are the FDM®, PolyJet™ and WDM™ 3D printing technologies, which create prototypes and manufactured goods directly from 3D CAD files and other 3D content. The company’s subsidiaries include MakerBot and Solidscape.
In Q4 2017, some of Stratasys’ big news includes: a deal to bring advanced 3D printed medical modeling to Philips, announced in November and the introduction of BioMimics, a 3D printed model of the human anatomy for physician training and medical device testing, also announced in November.
ExOne (NASDAQ:XONE)
Market cap: $160.69 million; current share price: $9.97; year-to-date gain: 6.48 percent
Closing out our 5 top gaining 3D printing companies of 2017 is ExOne. ExOne’s business is mainly making and selling 3D printing machines and products that are unique to its customers by using installed-base of 3D printing machines. ExOne uses proprietary Binder Jetting technology developed at MIT to print complex parts utilizing industrial-grade materials. This unique heatless technology uses a liquid binding agent that bond layers of material to form an object. Some materials that have been used include metals, sands, and ceramics.
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Securities Disclosure: I, Jocelyn Aspa, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.