Proto Labs (PRLB 2.15%), a leading quick-turn contract manufacturer, is slated to report its fourth-quarter and full-year 2021 results before the market opens on Friday, Feb. 11. An analyst conference call is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. ET the same day.
The company (which offers traditional manufacturing and 3D printing services) usually kicks off the quarterly earnings season for the 3D printing space. It appears poised to do so once again. As of this writing, 3D Systems, Stratasys, and other 3D printing players haven't yet announced their release dates. (As for 3D Systems, in 2021, its stock was the best-performing pure-play U.S.-listed 3D printing stock.)
Investors are certainly hoping Proto Labs stock will perform better in 2022 than it did in 2021. Last year, the stock dropped 72%. The company has been underperforming Wall Street's expectations due in part to a pandemic-driven slowdown in ordering from industrial companies, global supply chain issues, and rising input costs.
This will be the first quarter reported under the interim CFO, Dan Schumacher, who is also the vice president of investor relations. John Way, the company's longtime financial leader, reportedly resigned effective Nov. 30, 2021.
Here's what to watch in Proto Labs' upcoming fourth-quarter report.
Image source: Getty Images.
Proto Labs' key quarterly numbers
|
Metric |
Q4 2020 Result |
Q4 2021 Wall Street Consensus Estimate |
Projected Change (YOY) |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Revenue |
$105.2 million |
$117.4 million |
12% |
|
Adjusted earnings per share (EPS) |
$0.50 |
$0.27 |
(46%) |
Data sources: Proto Labs and Yahoo! Finance. YOY = year over year.
Proto Labs' fourth-quarter results will get a boost from its $280 million acquisition of 3D Hubs, which closed in late January 2021. At the time of the deal, the company described 3D Hubs as "a leading online manufacturing platform that provides customers with on-demand access to a global network of approximately 240 premium manufacturing partners."
For context, in the third quarter, Proto Labs' revenue grew 17% year over year to $125.3 million. Excluding the contribution from 3D Hubs, revenue rose 8.4%. Growth was driven by the CNC machining, 3D printing, and sheet metal businesses, which experienced revenue increases of 32%, 14%, and 22%, respectively. Injection molding, the company's largest business, was the slowest grower, with sales rising 8.3% year over year.
Last quarter, adjusted for one-time items, net income was $9.7 million, or $0.35 per share, down 48% year over year. This result fell short of the analyst consensus estimate of $0.43.
First-quarter 2022 guidance
The market's reaction to Proto Labs' earnings release will probably hinge more on the company's first-quarter 2022 guidance than its fourth-quarter 2021 results, relative to Wall Street's expectations.
For the first quarter, analysts are currently modeling for adjusted EPS to edge down 5% year over year to $0.38 and revenue to increase 8.4% to $125.9 million.
In the first quarter, Proto Labs will only get a partial quarterly boost from its 3D Hubs acquisition because it will be lapping its one-year anniversary of buying the company on Jan. 25.
