3D printing stocks print an ugly

3D Systems pre-announces and all 3D stocks are down in sympathy.

The DDD report  is full of hype -“Compared to its expectations, the company experienced much stronger professional 3D printers and materials demand and softer on-demand parts and consumer demand during the fourth quarter. As a result, the company expects to report its December backlog nearly doubled sequentially to $28 million which included multiple advanced manufacturing 3D printers orders that it plans to deliver over the next year.” Also known as “blah, blah, blah” and just okay numbers…

Somebody with $DDD puts is very happy today. Of course, as for me, I wish I’d hedged more or sold more, obviously, but it is what it is. We’ve taken nice profits in tranches along the way up and now the question is – what to do next?

The markets, especially in this sell off environment, needed more. I’m not going to buy back any DDD, not even a tranche yet.

This sentence is the nuts of it all and is why the stock sells off today, despite the hype in the press release: “Accordingly, the company expects its non-GAAP earnings per share to be in the range of $0.83 to $0.87, below its previously expected guidance of $0.93 to $1.03 and its GAAP earnings per share to be in the range of $0.43 to $0.45.”

I have complained about DDD’s management before, and today I’m truly disgusted at them for the way they’ve handled this.

Is this a XONE tranche opportunity on the DDD sympathy sell? Perhaps, but I’m going to see what they give us today before deciding anything. Recall that I’ve got a basket of 3-D stocks: http://tradingwithcody.com/?s=printing+basket

I’m sick to my stomach of the basket’s action today. I still have some pretty big gains in it overall and am considering my next move.

I’ll be sending out a note with my updated analysis on the sector and what I’m going to do next as soon as I decide what my next move is and I write it up today. Steady as she goes.