2 Under-the-Radar 3D Printing Stocks Continue to Crush the Market

Many investors probably consider 3D printing a loser space. This is understandable since the group's two best-known and longest publicly traded companies, 3D Systems (NYSE: DDD) and Stratasys (NASDAQ: SSYS), seem to have become experts at printing red ink. Their struggles growing revenue and turning a profit have resulted in their stocks performing poorly since peaking more than six years ago.

But writing off the entire group is a mistake. The global market for 3D printing products and services is expected to reach $40 billion in 2024, for a compound annual growth rate of more than 26%, according to Statista. That's just a little behind IDC's estimate that the artificial intelligence market will grow at an average annual rate of about 28% from 2019 through 2023. (You can read my picks for the top AI stocks here.)

Moreover, there are two lesser-known 3D printing stocks that have not only crushed the market so far in 2020, but have also outperformed over the mid-term and since their initial public offerings (IPOs): Proto Labs (NYSE: PRLB) and Materialise (NASDAQ: MTLS), which had their IPOs in 2012 and 2014, respectively.

Source Fool.com