Protolabs Stock vs. Xometry Stock. And the Winner Is?

Here’s a thought exercise. Let’s say you invested in a stock that you believed was the market leader. Later, another company goes public which looks attractive – high growth and challenging the leader. The leader’s growth stalls and share price plummets. You’re underwater holding the “leader” and missing out on the upside of the challenger. What do you do?

You do not sell a quality company when shares are depressed. In other words, you don’t lock in the losses on the “leader” to then invest in the challenger. In a situation like this, you might hedge, and also start accumulating a position in the challenger. That’s exactly what we’re considering doing with Protolabs (PRLB) and Xometry (XMTR).

The Distributed Manufacturing Opportunity

Let’s start by talking about the opportunity for distributed manufacturing which is a subset of the $35 trillion global manufacturing industry, $5 trillion of which can be found in the United States. It’s tough to conceptualize just how big a trillion dollars is, so maybe this diagram will help.

Of the $35 trillion manufacturing pie, $260 billion of that involves “custo