Nasdaq listed Mediabistro Inc. (MBIS) has made an early and swift move into the leadership position of the 3D printing business-to-business trade show market and it’s beginning to pay off in the company’s financials.
Based in New York, NY, Mediabistro is an established Internet media company with a broad reach and an enviably high traffic ranking.
So what are they doing now? They’re entering the 3D printing industry and are already the leader in the lucrative 3D printing business-to-business exposition segment with their “Inside Conference and Expo” series.
Why should investors in 3D printing pure play stocks consider investing in Mediabistro here? Here are my thoughts:
Mediabistro reported their Q3 2013 results with a net loss of .07/share vs. a net loss of .20/share for Q3 of 2012.
With only 6 million shares outstanding even small improvements in the bottom line can have a big impact on the per share earnings, which is why MBIS is such an intriguing stock as it continues to make headway into the 3D printing space.
CEO Alan Meckler on the Q3 results:
“Our financial results for the third quarter included two iterations of our newest trade show, Inside Conference and Expo, which took place during the month of July in Chicago and during the month of September in San Jose. These trade shows continue to be critically and financially successful and we are very excited about the growth possibilities of this brand. We also most recently held our first international Inside Conference and Expo in Singapore in October and we are continuing to schedule additional Inside events throughout the world in 2014, including Germany, Brazil and Australia, among others.”
I emailed CEO Alan Meckler a month ago and asked him why Mediabistro is entering the 3D printing space and he replied:
“Over my career I have launched many successful trade shows covering topics in which a technology is causing a paradigm shift. 3D printing is in fact a paradigm shift in manufacturing and this powerful shift will be the catalyst of huge changes in manufacturing and bring about great business opportunities. While there are several association orientated Additive Manufacturing events, Mediabistro has the only significant series of independent business to business 3D printing trade shows. The brand has caught on and during 2014 we will be running these events in 6 different countries and twice yearly in the USA. We believe there is a good chance that the Inside series of trade shows will bring significant top line and bottom line growth for Mediabistro”.
Mr. Meckler also told me that the Inside Conference and Expo events carry very high margins and that “the vast majority of revenue goes to the bottom line”.
This two minute video highlights the first NYC “Inside Conference and Expo” and the energy and excitement generated by the conference are palpable.
Bre Pettis, co-founder & CEO of MakerBot, summed up the conference, declaring: “This is where the action is”.
Mediabistro is now expanding their early mover advantage in the 3D printing B2B space with conferences in 2014 already scheduled for:
- Berlin, Germany
- New York (now expecting 30,000 attendees up from 3,000 last year)
- São Paulo, Brazil
- Shenzhen, China
- Seoul, S. Korea
- Melbourne, Australia
- Santa Clara, California
With additional shows to be announced.
Maker Summit & Pavilion Added: Mediabistro is adding a “Maker Summit & Pavillion” to their trade shows, designed to allow non-industrial users and makers to display and learn more about the fast growing world of 3D printing and is expected to increase attendance and revenue as a result.
CEO Alan Meckler states: “This should add significant revenue to our shows as this addition could very likely add as much as $100,000 or more of revenue to our shows without any significant additional cost. I expect the NYC show at Javits in April (2-4) to now attract more than 30,000 people (up from 3000 in 2013) due to adding the Maker component. We were attracting Makers before adding this addition, but now we will have specific exhibits and seminars for Makers.”
Conclusion
MBIS is “One to Watch” in the 3D printing industry for three reasons:
- Well positioned to realize significant top and bottom line growth which I believe will be reflected in an increasing share price over the next 3-6 months.
- A forward-looking, visionary CEO who was the first to capitalize on revenue and income models on the Internet in the mid-1990s and is now leading Mediabistro into the 3D printing industry, stating: “These trade shows continue to be critically and financially successful and we are very excited about the growth possibilities of this brand.”
- MBIS offers 3D printing stock investors diversification from pure play stocks while still investing in a company that has an early mover advantage and leadership position within a fast growth segment of the 3D printing industry.
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