Jefferies Previews Its '3D Printing Summit' With Key Questions For Companies

ANALYST, PREVIEW: Jefferies offers preview of it's '3D Printing Summit,' suggests key questions for DDD, SSYS, XONE, ARCW mgmt Jefferies will host a 3D Printing Summit on March 26 in New York. Ahead of the event, the firm has provided a preview including key questions for some of the companies. 3D Systems Corporation

- Hold, $30 price target VP of Ventures and Business Development Hugh Evans and IR Stacey Witten will attend. The key questions involved: "1) Acquisition strategy? 2) Holes in portfolio? 3) H2 ramp? 4) Q1 Street expectations? 5) Organic growth rebound? 6) SG&A and capex levels vs. SSYS? 7) Cimatron? 8) Consumer rebound? 9) Euro?" Regarding SG&A levels, the analysts noted that "DDD and SSYS both have R&D as a percentage of revenues around 10 percent but we estimate SSYS' SG&A will be 36 percent in 2015 vs. 20 percent for DDD." Stratasys, Ltd.

- Buy, $80 price target CFO and Israel COO Erez Simha and IR Cody Burke will be attend. The key questions involved: "1) Transition to end-use part manufacturer? 2) Software? 3) New entrants? 4) H2 revenue skew? 5) Timing of MakerBot extruder fix? 6) Q1 Street expectations? 7) SG&A and capex levels vs. SSYS? 8) Shekel and Euro?" The analysts also wanted to know more about the company's investments and when it expected to see a return on those investments. ExOne Co

- Hold, $14.50 price target Chairman and CEO S. Kent Rockwell, CFO Brian Smith and Special Advisor to the Chairman John Irvin will attend. The key questions involved: "1) H2 ramp? 2) Commitment to profitability? 3) Energy? 4) Russia? 5) Exerial? 6) Management changes? 7) New ExCast program? 8) Services growth? 9) Q1 Street expectations?" Regarding Russia, the analysts wanted to know about its exposure, impact from sanctions and interest from Russian customers. ARC Group WorldWide Inc

- no rating CEO and Chairman Jason Young and CFO Drew Kelley will attend. Analyst Jason North noted the following: "ARCW's strategy is to apply advanced subtractive and additive manufacturing processes to the relatively fragmented manufacturing industry. ARCW acquired ATC, Kecy, and Thixoforming in H1:CY14 and over the last several months has been working to integrate its technology and selling efforts into those operations. ARCW is one of the largest players in MIM (metal injection molding) and has a growing 3D printing operation." Two key questions for the company: "What are your goals and timeline for your investments in metal 3D printing? Do you need to make any additional acquisitions to complete your vision of an integrated offering?"