We didn’t hold Stratasys (SSYS) for the entire year so it doesn’t appear in the one-year table of top and bottom contributors. But when examining full year performance, it was clearly the one stock in the portfolio with the greatest negative impact on performance. Stratasys is in the additive manufacturing or 3D printing space. With their systems, companies have the ability to rapidly build prototypes to aid in designing new products or create fixtures to quickly adjust manufacturing lines for new products. While we believe in the long-term opportunity in the additive manufacturing space, the industry is going through an unforeseen period of slower growth caused by a lot of free press and headlines in 2013 and 2014. The excitement over 3D printing spurred a lot of buying of systems (and the stocks of these companies) ahead of end-user capacity needs. After a period of digestion, we believe growth will accelerate as the industry starts to make headway into end-use parts and finished products.
From Mairs & Power Small Cap Fund 4th quarter investor letter.
