From our July 29 post "Swedish 3D Printer Arcam AB: Small Company with Big Growth Projections (AMAVF)":
We've looked at Arcam a couple times, they are one of the class acts in 3D printing metals. From $10.28 last September the U.S. traded ADR's are up to $66.48.The ADR's are now at $ 91.95 up another $1.40 on the day. Yeah, you're reading that right, up another 38% since I got all chicken less than two weeks ago.
They are also very tiny; despite the sixfold run the company's market cap is less than $300 million.
That combination, big run up yet small cap puts this in a much higher risk category than the megacaps we usually talk about on the blog. In fact this may be a situation where chasing is just plain dangerous....
Despite my concern about the share price the company itself is a little gem, one of the leaders in 3D metalworking as opposed to the plastic tchotchkes that you get out of a MakerBot.
And not just any kind of metalworking either, this is bleeding edge.
From Engineering.com:
Arcam AB Nears Completion of Fast EBM 3D Printing Research
I never stop researching 3D printing companies as investments, including Arcam AB (AMAVF) and their EBM technology, profiled here on Engineering.com 3 days ago.
Yesterday, I discovered that Arcam is the recipient of a European Union research grant to develop a "Fast EBM" technology for 3D printing. EBM, or Electron Beam Melting, is patented technology used by Arcam for 3D printing of high grade metals used primarily in the aerospace, automotive, and medical/orthopedic implant industries. There are substantive advantages of EBM technology over laser sintering technology used by other 3D printing companies in metals, including high build speeds and lower installation and maintenance costs (see abstract here), and corroborating 3rd party research on EBM vs. sintering here.
Fast EBM Project Research Coordinated by Arcam AB...MOREAlso at Engineering.com:
Q&A with CEO of 3D Printing Company, Arcam AB
Previously:
Jan 2013
What's Moving: 3D Printer Arcam AB Up 10.72% (AMAVF)
Sept. 2012
Another Use for 3D Printing: Building A Beak for a Bald Eagle
Because the technology is only now ramping up (after a twenty year gestation) the results are still a bit crude.This is the kind of thing a guy wishes he had taken private.
As advances are made in sintering there will eventually be stuff made, not prototypes but actual stuff, from steel or copper or...
Two European companies — EOS of Germany and Arcam of Sweden are ahead of the pack in the metalworking part of the biz....
