Contrasting IDEX (NYSE:IEX) & 3D Systems (NYSE:DDD)

3D Systems (NYSE:DDD) and IDEX (NYSE:IEX) are both industrials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings, dividends and risk.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

64.5% of 3D Systems shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 98.0% of IDEX shares are owned by institutional investors. 4.0% of 3D Systems shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of IDEX shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for 3D Systems and IDEX, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
3D Systems	1	1	3	0	2.40
IDEX	0	2	9	0	2.82

3D Systems currently has a consensus price target of $5.50, indicating a potential upside of 54.49%. IDEX has a consensus price target of $260.27, indicating a potential upside of 13.07%. Given 3D Systems’ higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe 3D Systems is more favorable than IDEX.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares 3D Systems and IDEX”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
3D Systems	$386.90 million	1.53	$29.88 million	($0.41)	-8.68
IDEX	$3.59 billion	4.73	$483.20 million	$6.95	33.12

IDEX has higher revenue and earnings than 3D Systems. 3D Systems is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than IDEX, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares 3D Systems and IDEX’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
3D Systems	-14.15%	-19.56%	-8.92%
IDEX	14.49%	15.69%	9.10%

Risk and Volatility

3D Systems has a beta of 2.75, meaning that its stock price is 175% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, IDEX has a beta of 0.98, meaning that its stock price is 2% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

IDEX beats 3D Systems on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About 3D Systems

3D Systems Corporation provides 3D printing and digital manufacturing solutions in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, and internationally. The company offers 3D printers technologies, such as stereolithography, selective laser sintering, direct metal printing, multi jet printing, color jet printing, polymer extrusion, and extrusion and SLA based bioprinting that transform digital data input generated by 3D design software, computer aided design (CAD) software, or other 3D design tools into printed parts. It also develops, blends, and markets various print materials, such as plastic, nylon, metal, composite, elastomeric, wax, polymeric dental materials, and biocompatible materials. In addition, the company provides digital design tools, including software, scanners, and haptic devices, as well as solutions for product design, simulation, mold and die design, 3D scan-to-print, reverse engineering, production machining, metrology, and inspection and manufacturing workflows under the Geomagic brand. Further, it offers 3D Sprint and 3DXpert, a proprietary software to prepare and optimize CAD data and manage the additive manufacturing processes, which provides automated support building and placement, build platform management, print simulation, and print queue management; and Bioprint Pro, a software solution that allows researchers to design and bioprint repeatable experiments. Additionally, the company provides maintenance and training services; manufacturing services; and software and precision healthcare services. It primarily serves companies and small and midsize businesses in medical, dental, automotive, aerospace, durable goods, government, defense, technology, jewelry, electronic, education, consumer goods, energy, biotechnology, and other industries through direct sales force, channel partners, and appointed distributors. 3D Systems Corporation was founded in 1986 and is headquartered in Rock Hill, South Carolina.

About IDEX

IDEX Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides applied solutions worldwide. The company operates through three segments: Fluid & Metering Technologies (FMT), Health & Science Technologies (HST), and Fire & Safety/Diversified Products (FSDP). The FMT segment designs, produces, and distributes positive displacement pumps, valves, small volume provers, flow meters, injectors, and other fluid-handling pump modules and systems, as well as flow monitoring and other services for the food, chemical, general industrial, water and wastewater, agricultural, and energy industries. The HST segment designs, produces, and distributes precision fluidics positive displacement pumps, powder and liquid processing technologies, drying systems, micro-precision components, pneumatic components and sealing solutions, high performance molded and extruded sealing components, custom mechanical and shaft seals, engineered hygienic mixers and valves, biocompatible medical devices and implantables, air compressors and blowers, optical components and coatings, laboratory and commercial equipment, and precision photonic solutions. This segment serves food and beverage, life sciences, analytical instruments, pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical, industrial, semiconductor, automotive/transportation, medical/dental, energy, cosmetics, marine, chemical, wastewater and water treatment, research and aerospace/defense markets. The FSDP segment designs, produces, and distributes firefighting pumps, valves and controls, rescue tools, lifting bags, and other components and systems for the fire and rescue industry; engineered stainless steel banding and clamping devices for various industrial and commercial applications; and precision equipment for dispensing, metering, and mixing colorants and paints used in retail and commercial businesses. IDEX Corporation was incorporated in 1987 and is headquartered in Northbrook, Illinois.