What happened
Shares of 3D Systems (DDD -1.15%), a diversified 3D printing company, declined 15.8% in March, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence.
For context, the S&P 500 index returned negative 12.4% last month, as the coronavirus-driven market sell-off that began in February continued.
In 2020, 3D Systems stock is down 19.4% through April 6, compared with the broader market's return of negative 17.1% over this period.
Image source: Getty Images.
So what
3D Systems didn't release any major news in March. We can attribute its stock's drop last month to the overall market sell-off. The stock fell just a little more than the broader market.
The last significant news from the 3D printing company came on Feb. 26 when it released its fourth-quarter and full-year 2019 results. In Q4, revenue fell 8.9% year over year to $164.6 million, loss per share was flat with the year-ago period at $0.04, and earnings per share (EPS) adjusted for one-time items declined 50% to $0.05. These are far from good results, but they did manage to beat Wall Street's consensus estimates. Analysts were looking for adjusted EPS of $0.01 on revenue of $163.7 million.
Management attributed the weak results to three factors: a soft macroeconomic industrial environment, the delay in shipping factory metals printing solutions, and the timing of large enterprise customer orders.
Now what
For the first quarter of 2020, Wall Street expects an adjusted loss per share of $0.03 on revenue of $145.5 million. This represents a 66% narrowing of the loss per share and a nearly 12% decline in revenue compared with the year-ago period.
