For what its worth I don't have a horse in this race. I do not hold RBO shares or a stake in any 3d printer companies. However, I know a bit about 3d printers as I have a few including a used robo machine purchased a while back. I also know a little about analyzing a stock pick. Here are my 2 cents:
Robo wasn't founded as a family business. It was a garage startup by a few guys out of Southern California. Not the tech cities of California but instead the beachy cities of California. Think surfin' USA versus Silicon Valley. This was not a high tech operation run by high tech guys. However, when they first came out they had heart and they also had alot less competition. I bought one of their first machines on offerup and it was OK. When the first robo came out OK was good enough because there weren't many competitors. They had a good following and anything that you couldn't figure out you could find info on via online forums. It was an acceptable machine for home use.
Fast forward to a few years later and now it seems that Beachy California wanted to meet Silicon Valley California. It seems like the original guys sold out to shady financiers and cashed in. Check out robo's
investor relations webpage. They literally have 1 guy that presents himself as having 3d printer skills. Everyone else is either a money guy or has experience in something other than 3D printing. That's like eating at a restaurant where the bankers who made the loan for the restaurant are making your meal, serving your table, and washing the dishes :/ The fact is 3d printing is a new field. It is not like selling televisions which have been around forever and where anyone can jump in and sell them. As such they should have people with 3D printer skills making decisions.
Follow the money!
Also, ask yourself this question: why would a few guys from beachy California need an investment group from Perth to do anything for them when they have a ton of financiers a few hours up the PCH (Silicon Valley) where they could easily get representation to go public? It seems to me like the finance guys
found them
Now maybe, just maybe, there is a chance that the financial group had good intentions. They took a small garage company and brought in Foxconn to put new bells and whistles on the R2. Granted, the R2 is an atleast an awesome looking machine, atleast on the surface. But then again why Foxconn? They've never made 3D printers before (have they?) The original team at robo probably had more experience making 3d printers than foxconn. Buuuuuuut the Foxconn name sounds cooler so management decided to put a silk hat on their pig and use it as promo.
In the 3d printer circles there aren't too many dudes who give an unbiased review more so than a youtuber by the name of Joel "The 3d printing nerd". Stupid name but not stupid reviews. Check out
this review. The machine that robo is banking on just isn't very good. It looks nice but for anyone with any experience using 3d printers the looks are not worth the mediocrity of the machine especially considering the price tag. Watch the youtube video and look at the comments from viewers.
As a side note,
watch this video from a company called Prusa. Check out the comments from viewers of this video and compare that to those of the robo. The Prusa isn't perfect but atleast the guy in charge knows what he's talking about. In my opinion the Prusa is a much better machine for 2/3 the price. Hell, the original robo 1 is probably better than the R2 because atleast at that price point you know what you are getting. The only problem with the Prusa machines is that they are a bit ugly. If money is not a problem then my pick for a machine that bridges the quality of the Prusa and the looks of the robo is the Ultimaker 3. Now that is a nice printer!
Lastly, why would management need to initiate a CR, or two, to fulfill orders even before the heavy Christmas season? Who is steering this ship and where to that they need emergency cash to fulfill normal operating expenses? Are there also problems yet uncovered from the bookkeepers? What happens when Christmas rolls around and they can not fulfill new Christmas orders? It seems as though management is using shareholder money as monopoly money and plugging leaks as they go. That's just silly and looks to have no end in sight.
Excuses by management and good intentions are about as useless as tits on a nun. Investors want results! I would say go back to the original guys making decisions and in the future stick to a management with 3d printer backgrounds.
