Altair Engineering Stock is a Play on Simulated Design
Investing in disruptive technologies appeals to investors because it promises high growth over short periods of time when compared to a slow-moving technology benchmark like Nasdaq. In many cases, it’s a get rich scheme in disguise. In other words, if that “next Microsoft” you think you’re holding can’t manage to beat a bog-standard market benchmark, you’ve taken on a tremendous amount of company-specific risk and actually lost money by missing out on the broader market’s returns.
For your average Joe investor – what we call “retail investors” – investing in disruptive tech is largely confined to stock picking or ETFs. In the case of stocks, you may find limited options that provide high levels of exposure to a particular technology theme, and making meaningful money requires putting all your eggs in one basket. As for ETFs, they’re usually put together by some index provider who needs constituents, and consequently throws in everything but the kitchen sink.
In the case of 3D printing, we’ve been working our way through the Solactive Total 3D-Printing Index and finding some interesting stocks that offer exposure to a variety of disruptive technology themes – ironically, none of which seem to be meaningfully focused on 3D printing itself. For example, our recent piece on Investing in IoT and Augmented Reality with PTC Inc. looked at how IoT and AR might provide some s
