3D: MakerBot Acquired by Stratasys (SSYS)

Although the stock was down in regular trade, after the bell and the announcement SSYS is up $2.80 at $87.40.
The acquirer is up? It also happened when SSYS merged with Objet but more dramatically.
From TechCrunch a rather exuberant headline:

Stratasys Acquiring MakerBot In $403M Deal, Combined Company Will Likely Dominate 3D Printing Industry

Today Stratasys announced that it has acquired MakerBot, as we reported, in a stock deal worth $403 million based on the current share value of Stratasys. The combination of the companies brings together a leader in 3D industrial printing and manufacturing, with the emerging leader in desktop 3D printing, which the companies said in a press release should help drive “faster adoption of 3D printing” across all categories.

MakerBot will continue to operate as a separate company from Stratasys as part of the deal, which is reportedly stock-for-stock transaction. It’ll be a subsidiary of MakerBot, but will serve the consumer and desktop market segment while Stratasys continues to focus on its existing industry placement.

MakerBot was founded in 2009, and has since sold over 22,000 3D printers, with its most recent model making up 11,000 of those sales coming from the Replicator 2, which it launched back in September 2012. That means traction is on the upswing in a big way, something which no doubt helped pave the way for the deal....MORE

While All Things D goes with:

MakerBot Sells to Stratasys for $403M — Plus $201M for Earn-Outs — as 3-D Printing Market Explodes

MakerBot's niche is the lower end/hobbyist market. I'm still more enthusiastic about the metal sintering companies, most of whom are based in Europe.

Earlier:
Amazon Will Seize 3D Printing (AMZN)

Mr. Bezos has a personal investment through his Bezos Expeditions in lower-end 3D printer co., MakerBot, who may or may not be acquired by Stratasys this week. 

Mileposts: Staples Becomes the First (Major) Retailer to Sell 3D Printers (SPLS; DDD)

...Competing 3D printer vendors have so far been limited to a few local or pop-up retail locations. MakerBot sells printers from its Manhattan retail location, Ultimaker and others sold printers this winter from the 3DEA 3D printing pop-up store, also in Manhattan....MORE 

Patents vs. Innovation: 3D Printing Edition (SSYS; DDD; IRBT)
McKinsey--"Manufacturing the Future: The next Era of Global Growth and Innovation (DDD; SSYS)

The MakerBot stuff is not what we are looking at, right now the hotspot is DARPA:

And many more.