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In addition to strong quarterly earnings and a bright outlook, there may be one more reason for 3D printing companies to be wary of Hewlett-Packard (HPQ). CEO Meg Whitman said it plans to enter the 3D printing market organically.

For investors, HP’s move into 3D printing could be very good for potential upside. HP is not planning to make expensive acquisitions, and will leverage what it already knows in the printing business to grow the department from within.

Strong starting point

Investors reacted positively to a quarterly earnings report that saw HP gain market share in the printing and PC markets. In the fourth quarter, HP generated $2 billion in free cash flow, while net income was $1.4 billion. The company ended the quarter with no net debt. HP earned $1.01 per share on revenue of $29.1 billion.

Entering 3D printing

On the conference call, Meg Whitman said HP would enter 3D printing but will do so by finding its value proposition by market segment:

“So we intend to play in the 3D printing market … It’s obviously different than paper printing but some of the technology is the same … we anticipate … entering this organically. And what we’re doing is focusing on what’s the value proposition by market segment, whether that be consumer or industrial. What’s the competitive differentiation and we’ve got some very interesting things coming.”

The efforts will likely not bear fruit until sometime in 2014 or 2015. With HP shares valued at a forward P/E of 7, the company is deeply discounted compared to other 3D printing stocks like 3D Systems (DDD) or Stratasys (SSYS). Stratasys trades at a forward P/E of over 70…

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