All About 3D Printing IPO VoxelJet
Table of contents
Investors in pure-play 3D printing companies have fared well this year with the 2 biggest players by market cap, Stratasys (NASDAQ:SSYS) and 3D Systems (NYSE:DDD), up +22% and +51% respectively. The first IPO in the 3D printing sector, ExOne (NASDAQ:XONE), has paid investors handsomely since February this year with an +80% return. The second 3D printing company to announce an IPO filing for 2013 just last week was Voxeljet.
About Voxeljet
Founded in 1999, German company Voxeljet sold their first 3D printer in 2002 and has an installed base of 52 printers worldwide. In 2003, Voxeljet opened an on-demand parts service which they currently believe to be the largest in Europe and which is in the process of being expanded from 16,000 square feet to over 40,000 square feet of production space. The company has claimed Daimler, BMW, Ford, and Volkswagen as customers for over a decade, all of which who they collaborate on research and development projects with. The company has 87 employees, 24 of which who work in R&D. The proposed IPO will trade under the symbol “VJET” with the proceeds being used to expand their Europe on-demand parts center as well as to establish on-demand parts service centers in North America and Asia.
Printers
Voxeljet offers five 3D printer platforms and plans to offer a sixth prior to the end of 2013. The Company’s VX4000 system offers a build box that is more than six times the volume of the next largest commercially available 3D printer and yields the highest volumetric output rate in the industry. Voxeljet’s VXC800 printer is believed by the Company to be the only continuous build 3D printer currently on the market. Voxeljet’s current print materials are sand or plastic along with their proprietary chemical binding agents and they are in various stages of development for other materials including ceramics, metals, and wood powders. They believe their competitive strengths to be build box size, volumetric output rate, material sets, and Voxeljet’s track record of innovation. In an interesting case study, the company recently printed 3 full-size replicas Aston Martins with 18 pieces each for the James Bond film Skyfall.
Financials
In 2012 the company had revenues of $11.3 million with earnings per share of 14 cents. Of these revenues, 85% were generated in euros and 47% were generated in Germany. For the first half of 2013, the company has brought in revenues of $5.8 million with an earnings per share loss of 24 cents. Voxeljet attributed the losses for the first half of this year to a new printer sold, one of the first of its type, that had lower margins, higher costs, and was delivered to a customer on very short notice. As of June 30, 2013, the company had a backlog of around $6.9 million consisting of 7 printers putting the average sale price to be realized for each of these printers at around almost $1 million.
Conclusion
The company has had an intellectual property relationship with ExOne (NASDAQ:XONE) since 2003 in which ExOne is obligated to pay royalties to use various Voxeljet patents in machines they sell. Voxeljet also lists 3D Systems (NYSE:DDD) as not only a competitor but also a customer. Given the success of ExOne’s IPO this year, Voxeljet will be one to watch.
Share
I’m interested in attaining information as to “Voxeljet I P O” More precisely just how to go about purchasing shares of this company when they come out with their I P O .
Harry,
Some brokers allow clients to purchase pre-IPO shares so you can inquire to your broker regarding this option. Alternatively you can continue to check on the status of the filing at the below link:
http://www.nasdaq.com/markets/ipos/company/voxeljet-ag-915787-73505
Given all the hype around 3D printing stocks I won’t buy this at IPO. I’m going to wait one month and see how they pan out. Exone is down about 50% of their high now. There’s too much hype in this sector now.