Well written article, Eddie.

I'm not in complete agreement with Twiggs' theory, although some of it is certainly valid.

I'm aging myself badly here, but I was working in the magazine business prior to desktop publishing's existence. I remember typesetting machines and paste-up boards, so I'm pretty tuned into the old paper printing market. I can see the analogy, but it isn't entirely accurate, because it doesn't take the Printing Press into account. Professional results could not be achieved at Kinkos or Staples. If you wanted a magazine, book or newspaper printed, you had to go to a printing press house. This industry still exists today. It has shrunken radically, but the crash in demand was a result of what is arguably the most disruptive technological advancement in history (the internet), as opposed to natural market size limitations vs. over-supply.

Stratasys and 3D Systems stock prices are tanking because 3D printing is experiencing the classic Gartner Hype Graph. The bubble started bursting at the beginning of 2014 and we are near the Trough of Disillusionment. Printer sales are still growing. It is similar to the dot com boom, only less economically destructive because it doesn't play as big a role in society. When the dot com bubble burst, the internet didn't go away. Amazon proceeded to destroy millions of brick and mortar retail jobs. The Web has continued to grow, but investors view it realistically, which they didn't during the bubble. The same could be said for the 3D printing bubble. 3D printing stocks were simply overvalued and we are seeing the predictable correction.

Long story short, the industry is fine, but I'm glad I wasn't hanging onto a bunch of SSYS and DDD stock during the past 16 months. That being said, If I did have the stocks, I wouldn't sell them now, because I believe under-valued territory isn't far away.