While you’re undoubtedly thinking “beach”, earnings news continues to roll. In general, Q2 seems to have been quite strong but there is concern about the rest of the year, with some companies reporting that activity in Europe started to drop off over the last six weeks.
3D Systems last week announced that Q2 revenue increased 52% to a record $86 million. Unit sales of 3D printers more than doubled when compared Q2 2011, and accounted for $10 million of the total $29 revenue increase for the quarter. Consumables revenue grew 60% to $26 million, while services revenue was $31 million.
3D Systems launched Cube, its 3D printer intended for home use, at the end of May. CEO Abe Reichental said that “Cube 3D printer orders topped the upper range of our expectations and Cube consumables orders exceeded our expectations by a factor of three.” He downplayed expectations, however, saying that “we don’t expect revenue from Cube or Cubify.com to be material to revenue for 2012″.
Mr. Riechental confirmed earlier revenue guidance, saying that 3D Systems has”not seen any discernible difference in the behavior of our customers. We believe that our growth is much more linked to global and regional R&D spending trends than to any other macroeconomic or GDP performance.” So, in spite of “lingering economic uncertainties in parts of the world” the company still expects revenue for 2012 to be in the range of $330 million to $360 million.
CENIT Systemshaus had guided to a relatively modest 4% to 5% revenue growth for 2012, based on caution about its macroeconomic environment. Yesterday, CENIT said that it had seen a “substantial” increase in revenue in the first half of the year, with its PLM segment (reselling DS products as well as marketing some of its own) compensating for a decline in its enterprise (IBM Filenet) business. Revenue for the first six months was €58 million, up 15% over last year. We’ll learn more when the company releases detailed earnings later in August, but CENIT’s press release said that the PLM performance in the first half was due to two large customer orders; for the second half of the year, CENIT expects more moderate growth. In all, the company now expect to increase its revenue for the year by 7%.
FARO Technologies is a publicly traded maker of devices and software used by manufacturers and the built asset industry to measure and evaluate objects — really, anything that benefits from detailed 3D measurements. FARO’s products are used for part and assembly inspection, plant planning and asset documentation, surveying, accident and crime scene re-creation and digitally preserving historical sites.
FARO competes with Hexagon’s Leica unit and numerous private companies in laser scanning, a set of technologies that are increasingly disruptive to plant design and AEC software suppliers, since many of their customers are considering whether it makes more sense to update CAD models with maintenance project data, or build new CAD models from laser scan point clouds on an as-needed basis. Since Hexagon buries Leica Geosystems’ performance in the overall corporate model, we can look at FARO to note trends in this this market.
FARO reported that second quarter sales grew 12% to $67 million, with sales up 29% in Asia and up 17% in the Americas. CEO Jay Freeland said that Europe was “sluggish and uncertain European”, with sales there up 9% in Euros but down 3% in US Dollars.
Mr. Freeland also said that demand for FARO’s products was strong in aerospace, in both new and existing projects across commercial and military customers. Sales to the automotive vertical were also strong, news about slowing car sales notwithstanding. Sales to heavy manufacturing were weaker than auto and aero — but this vertical is not nearly as penetrated, so he sees “lots of opportunity … though the selling process here is still often very missionary”.
Laser scanning sales to the construction and surveying market were “really strong — it’s dependant on the economy but since it’s new technology to a lot of these companies, there’s lots of interest”. Mr. Freeland pointed out that many plant owners are now doing three or four scans of their complete facility every year and storing the resulting point clouds away, in case they are needed for a repair or maintenance project.
Stratasys reported record revenue of $49 million for Q2, a 31% jump over last year. CEO Scott Crump said sales of the higher-end Fortus helped boost system revenue by 33% during the second quarter, while a consumables revenue was up 34%. The company started shipping its lower-priced Mojo 3D printer at the end of Q2 and notes that “initial orders of Mojo have been strong”.
Mr. Crump said that all is on target for a Q3 closing of its planned merger with Objet, as Stratasys has received Hart-Scott-Rodino anti-trust approval in the U.S. and filed preliminary proxy materials with the SEC. Stratasys now expect the transaction to be accretive to non-GAAP earnings per share immediately after closing.
Stratasys revised its financial guidance for fiscal 2012 — this doesn’t include revenue from Objet since the acquisition hasn’t closed. The company now expects revenue to be in the range of $193 million to $198 million, up from prior guidance of $183 million to $193 million.
The other big news for Stratasys is that it will discontinue its agreement with HP for manufacturing and distribution of 3D printers at the end of 2012. Mr. Crump said that Stratasys intends to develop its independent channel and, with the Objet merger, can build an “even broader distribution channel with a more extensive geographic reach.”
The agreement, signed in 2010, led Stratasys to develop and manufacture a line of 3D printers specifically for HP. Stratasys doesn’t expect the termination to have a material impact on its financial results for the current year.
