Stratasys posts $23 million loss for second quarter

The trouble continued at Stratasys Ltd. as the maker of 3-D printers cited slower growth and withdrew its 2015 forecast Thursday after reporting a $23 million loss for its second quarter.

The profit decline came despite a 2 percent uptick in sales.

Shares of Stratasys stock fell 10.5 percent to close at $32.67 a share Thursday. A year ago, it was trading at $130 a share.

Excluding one-time items, second quarter profits fell by $20 million to $8 million, or 15 cents a share, which was in line with analysts' consensus estimates. Revenue rose 2 percent to $182 million for the quarter.

Stratasys, which is based in Israel with large operations in Eden Prairie, withdrew its prior outlook for the year.

"Due to the company's limited visibility regarding the timing of improvements in growth, the company has withdrawn its previously delivered full year 2015 financial guidance, and instead has provided financial guidance for the third quarter of 2015," the company said in a statement.

Stratasys now expects third quarter revenue in the range of $175 million to $190 million and adjusted profits, excluding one-time items, to reach $1.5 million to $7 million, or 3 to 13 cents per share.

The difficult quarter is the latest of several for Stratasys. It had been a fast-growing Wall Street darling until last year, when product defect problems affected its MakerBot consumer line of desktop 3-D printers newly introduced into big-name retail stores.

Stratasys posted a $216 million loss during the first quarter and a $92 million loss during the fourth quarter amid impairment and restructuring charges associated with the MakerBot subsidiary.

Several research analysts downgraded their stock recommendations this spring, despite noting that the company is aggressively targeting new auto, aerospace and health care clients.