Has 3D Printing Gotten Ahead Of Itself? Industry Expert Says Yes, But That's OK

While the 3D printing industry will undoubtedly play an important role in the evolution of innovation, the enthusiasm behind shares of 3D printing stocks has certainly waned.

Three companies in the sector have dropped at least 20 percent in October alone. Analyst Troy Jensen called a recent survey from Piper Jaffray on the industry “extremely discouraging,”.

Michael Mazzotta is CEO and founder of 3Dshoes.com, a resource database on the 3D shoe printing industry in which major players have entered, including Nike Inc NKE with its ManREV initiative, Under Armour Inc UA and adidas AG (ADR) ADDYY's new Speedfactory. Mazzotta spoke with Benzinga, sharing his take on the industry's outlook.

"The market is peaking in regards to inflated expectations however we will see the highest caliber of use in 2017 as 2016 marked the year of material science partnerships and breakthroughs," Mazzotta said. "Carbon3D.com is one of the biggest winners of 2016 with growth of partnerships with billion-dollar market cap firms and is laser focused on bringing the material science to these new companies that will also come out with prototypes and products in 2017. The lull in market caps for these major firms was expected."

It appears that the excitement around the industry has gotten ahead of itself, but don’t expect 3D printing to go anywhere anytime soon; it has just yet to hit a critical mass.