Why Stratasys Stock Stumbled by 11% Today
What happened
Shares of 3D printer maker Stratasys (NASDAQ: SSYS) are moving toward ending the week lower -- down 11% as of 11:55 AM EST after missing analyst sales estimates for fiscal Q4 and (maybe) missing earnings estimates as well.
Wall Street was predicting that Stratasys would earn $0.21 per share on sales of $185.8 million in Q4, although it's not clear whether analysts were forecasting actual generally accepted accounting principles numbers or following more lenient pro forma reporting. If the former, then Stratasys missed badly, reporting just $0.12 per share earned in Q4 this morning. If the latter, Stratasys merely met expectations, reporting an "adjusted" profit of $0.21 per share.
Either way, sales clearly missed estimates. Stratasys reported revenue of just $177.1 million.
Image source: Getty Images.
So what
Stratasys's sales declined 1% year over year in Q4. Gross margins earned on those revenues improved slightly, up 40 basis points to 49.1%, but gross profit still declined because of the lower sales. Stratasys posted an operating loss, but recorded a $12.9 million profit from "associated companies" that returned it to profitability on the bottom line.
For the year, Stratasys posted a similar 1% decline in sales to $663.2 million, an operating loss -- and a net loss, too: $0.22 per share.
Now what
Things could get (a little) better in 2019, however. For this year, Stratasys is projecting a return to sales growth, with revenues reaching between $670 million and $700 million.
Despite this, however, Stratasys says it'll probably end the year with another net loss -- between $0.22 and $0.40 per share.
That's not what investors wanted to hear, and I can't say as I blame them.
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Rich Smith has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Stratasys. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
