While many of the companies within the 3D printing and CAD spaces have been struggling, at least in terms of share price these past several months, one company which has stood apart from the others is Dassault Systèmes. The Vélizy-Villacoublay, France-based company’s stock is trading near all-time highs, bucking the market trend. This is likely due to the fact that their primary business is in that of software and services rather than hardware, and of course their steady earnings growth doesn’t hurt either.
This morning the company released their second quarter, 2015 financial results, and once again the numbers continue to show rapid growth.
“Dassault Systèmes’ second quarter and first half financial performance were driven by good customer dynamics for our solutions in a wide range of industries. We also made significant progress in advancing strategic initiatives,” commented Bernard Charlès, Dassault Systèmes President and Chief Executive Officer. “Among these is 3D printing, which represents game-changing possibilities in terms of production business models. Additive manufacturing requires unique software specification-based design capabilities and intimate understanding of new materials, all of them at the core of our Research & Development efforts in the past years, or acquired with BIOVIA. The 3DEXPERIENCE platform makes it possible to industrialize comprehensive additive manufacturing processes.”
Total revenue for the quarter increased to $715.7 million Euros, up 16% (in constant currency) over last year’s second quarter numbers. At the same time, quarter two earnings per share jumped 50% over that same time period. Below you will find a few additional key unaudited financial statistics from their reported results:
- Quarter over quarter revenue growth of 14% in the Services & other category, 14% in the software category
- Quarter over quarter revenue growth of 15% in the Americas, 13% in Europe and 22% in Asia
- 58% increase in operating income
- Net income per share jumped from €0.39 to €0.26
In addition to an upbeat report, the company also just announced that they have partnered with the National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) and Wichita State University (WSU) in order to advance technologies and product 
development for aerospace & defense. As a part of this partnership, the two companies will open an innovation center at Wichita State University, where they will look to advance additive manufacturing technologies even further.
“Additive manufacturing has high potential for aerospace and other industries, and goes far beyond just 3D printing. It requires an understanding of new materials down to the molecular level, how those materials perform under any scenario, how they can be expediently and cost-effectively manufactured and how each piece of the ultimate system can be certified,” said Michel Tellier, Vice President, Aerospace & Defense Industry, Dassault Systèmes. “The center will leverage the 3DEXPERIENCE platform’s immersive and robotic applications and Dassault Systèmes’ expertise in materials and simulation. Tomorrow’s materials will push the evolution of airplane design, production and operation into a new era.”
This will not be the first time the two companies have decided to work together to push forward an initiative. In fact, they both collaborated on Dassault Systèmes’ “Passenger Experience” which is a new industry solution experience for aerospace companies that launched in June of this year.
As the 3D software industry continues its rapid expansion, Dassault Systèmes seems to be well entrenched within it. With news like this, the company’s moat around their business seems to get larger. Are you a Dassault Systèmes shareholder? What are your thoughts on their recent financial report and partnership with WSU/NIAR. Let us know in the Dassault Systèmes Earnings forum thread on 3DPB.com.
