A business analyst has said the OEM is “open to make acquisitions and partnerships in 3D printing” and that purchasing Stratasys could bring forward its entry into the middle-to-high-end market by two years.
Jason North, an analyst for global investment banking firm Jefferies, said HP will need around four different 3D printing technologies to penetrate the middle-to-high-end market where its printing division is currently located, Twin Cities Business reported.
There are other ways to do this, but Stratasys’ reseller network, alongside dual headquarters in Israel and outlets in Europe, Asia and South America, make it an ideal candidate.
A spokesman for the 3D printing company told Twin Cities Business that “there’s been a number of rumors [like this] over the years,” but refused to comment on the “market speculation”. Cherie Britt, HP’s spokeswoman for its printing department, also offered “no comment” on speculation.
Alfred Marcus, a professor at the University of Minnesota, told the magazine that “this may be an opportune time for an acquisition” as “HP’s innovation machine has stalled” after “trying for a long time to come up with its own 3D printing technology”.
The 3D printer remanufacturer posted in March 2015 losses for 1Q2015 of $216 million (€193 million), blaming the strong dollar and the costs of rebooting its consumer desktop division MakerBot, which Dell signed a deal to resell in January 2014.