Lake Street anticipates Stratasys board ‘once again’ declines 3D, Nano bids

Lake Street analyst Troy Jensen notes that Nano Dimension’s (NNDM) first attempt at a public tender offering for Stratasys (SSYS) “failed miserably” with an estimated 8% of shareholders tendering their shares for $18, prompting the company to raise their offer price to $20.05. 3D Systems (DDD) also upped their offer for Stratasys and is now offering shareholders 41% of the combined company and its cash-and-stock bid would equate to roughly $20.76 per Stratasys as of yesterday’s close, which the firm notes is “comfortably above Nano’s offer.” The firm says that “hopefully, Nano goes away” so Stratasys shareholders can vote on which merger they prefer, a deal with 3D or the announced merger with Desktop Metal (DM), but it anticipates the Stratasys board will “once again decline these offers and continue to recommend what looks like a desperation move,” namely its deal to merge with Desktop. If one is of the view that scale is needed to reach healthy profitability levels, it “seems like 3D Systems merging with Stratasys makes the most sense,” adds Lake Street, which has a Buy rating on shares of both and a Hold rating on Desktop Metal.