Image: MakerBot.
Stratasys (SSYS -0.20%) recently announced an initiative to get a MakerBot 3-D printer into every school in America. Make no mistake: With 99,000 schools in America, this is an extremely ambitious goal.
Let's check in ...
As of Nov. 15, Stratasys has sold 82 MakerBot Academy bundles to schools, and it's doing so at a 25% discount. It appears the primary donor on most if not all of these bundles was MakerBot and its partners, so at this point investors shouldn't assume these sales are going to drive profits.
Nonetheless, this is great public relations for the company, and material sales on the back end will help as the printers get into more and more schools.
What it means going forward
It doesn't appear this initiative will move the needle for Stratasys in the short term, but this is further evidence of how Makerbot has used branding and public relations to cement itself as the No. 1 consumer 3-D printer.
In the following video, Motley Fool analyst Blake Bos takes an in-depth look at the program and how it could affect MakerBot the brand.
