Materialise Addresses A Key Step In A Fast-Growing Manufacturing Opportunity

Automated manufacturing is taking on increasing significance across a range of industries, and 3D manufacturing is playing a growing role in that process. Companies like GE (NYSE:GE) have made significant investments into automated 3D manufacturing, and machine tool companies are increasingly integrating additive manufacturing capabilities into more traditional tool workstations. As more companies look to adopt 3D manufacturing for themselves, there will be more demand for software to operate those systems. That is where Materialise (NASDAQ:MTLS) comes in - while the majority of the company's revenue today comes from 3D manufacturing services, the company has a strong position in an important software segment that should drive meaningful growth.

Materialise is a small company operating in an industry that is still early in its development cycle. That's positive with respect to growth potential, but it makes modeling and valuation quite a bit more challenging.

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Materialise Addresses A Key Step In A Fast-Growing Manufacturing Opportunity

Seeking Alpha: Hurco Delivers Once Again

Companies leveraged to metalworking have seen pretty mixed performance in both their reported financials and stock performance this year. Hardinge (NASDAQ:HDNG) and Kennametal (NYSE:KMT) are both down double-digits on a year-to-date basis (about 22% and 15%, respectively), while MSC Industrial (NYSE:MSM) (a distributor, not a manufacturer) is up more than 12% and Hurco (NASDAQ:HURC) is up close to 50%.

I continue to be bullish on Hurco. The company's announcement in mid-July of a patent on combination 3D-printing and CNC machining certainly got some attention, but the basic underlying business at Hurco is progressing well and I believe that is the more important factor. I do have some concerns about the sustainability of order growth and gross margins, but these shares continue to look undervalued to me.

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Hurco Delivers Once Again

Investopedia: Autodesk's Growth Problems Go Front And Center

When I last wrote about Autodesk (Nasdaq:ADSK), I cited the company's lack of top-line growth (and the macroeconomic sensitivity of that growth) as key impediments to the stock living up to its apparent value. Based on this quarter and management's guidance, those growth concerns are biting even harder right now. Although management deserves praise for the extent to which it maintained margins, margin preservation and cash flow just aren't going to make much headway against the negative sentiment around revenue growth.

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