The ARK 3D Printing ETF (PRNT ) is attractive not just in its own right, but because 3D printing intersects with a slew other fast-growing industries. Add sustainable housing to that list.
PRNT is the first U.S.-listed ETF dedicated to the 3D printing theme. The fund is one of two passively managed products from New York-based Ark Investment Management. ARK believes 3D printing will revolutionize manufacturing by collapsing the time between design and production, reducing costs, and enabling greater design complexity, accuracy, and customization than traditional manufacturing.
“Mighty Buildings is using 3D-printing to build an entire community of homes in Palm Springs, California. The community will be composed of 15 homes that all have advanced environmental and technological features,” reports Jennifer Castenson for Forbes.
The Expansion of 3D Printing
Passively managed PRNT offers leverage to its namesake as its benchmark “is composed of equity securities and depositary receipts of exchange-listed companies from the U.S., non-U.S. developed markets and Taiwan that are engaged in 3D printing-related businesses within the following business lines: (i) 3D printing hardware, (ii) computer-aided design (‘CAD’) and 3D printing simulation software, (iii) 3D printing centers, (iv) scanning and measurement, and (v) 3D printing materials,” according to Ark Investment Management.
As for the California housing project, it could be the start of a trend that has positive long-term implications for PRNT.
“Palari and Mighty Buildings are targeting sustainability- and technology-minded millennials who are in the market for vacation homes or investment properties, or who just plan to work from home. Interest is also coming from local retirees who want wellness features and who are downsizing into smaller, more efficient homes,” according to Forbes.
Bolstering the case for PRNT is that plenty of major economies outside the U.S. are embracing 3D printing. The same goes for industrial adoption, which is increasing in broad-based fashion.
3D printing “opens up opportunities to automate the most dangerous and difficult portions of the build in order to allow the existing labor force to build more, while also attracting a new generation of workers to the industry,” concludes Forbes.
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