I had a brief look into Amaero International Ltd following recent news that the company is building a “world-class” titanium powder plant in VIC. 

Brief overview:
- Operations based in the US, with new facility to be build in Victoria. 
- The firm has approval to supply large US defence contractors courtesy of approval it holds for various ITAR-regulated projects. 
- High annual growth anticipated, 105% according to Simply Wall Street (this is possibly a touch optimistic)
- Recent insider buying, albeit small levels. 
- 10% insider ownership. 
- No debt, although shareholders have been diluted in the past year - which doesnt surprise me given the company is running at pretty significant losses (more on this below). 
- Industry with tailwinds, but various competitors listed in the ASX. 
- Amaero has attained exclusive rights to commercialise two patented and proprietary alloys developed by Monash University - who the company has worked with since 2013. 

Competitors:
Four ASX stocks specialise in 3D printing - AML3D, Titomic, Aurora Labs and Amaero. Amaero appears to be impressive, with some obvious tailwinds in the 3D printing space - but there are several competitors with similar tailwinds. Research
conducted by stockbrief in 2020 suggested Amaero actually had the lowest revenue of its four competitors, with the highest loss margins.  

A brief description of Titomic Limited (ASX TTT) below, as they appear to be the main ASX-listed competitors:
- Also focuses on titanium metals
- Claims to have world’s largest and fastest metal 3D printer using the Cold Spray process, developed jointly with CSIRO
- Competing in many of the same areas as Amaero (defence and space), but also consumer goods, construction etc. 
- Two global CSIRO patents. 

3D printing companies are all vying to compete in a global market that is anticipated to reach US$23.6bn by 2025. While it appears Amaero are establishing themselves as a key player, particularly with allied defence partners, this doesn't meet the risk/reward ratio for me to invest. The commercialisation of its products and consistent revenue/profit will obviously be key for the company. Until this occurs, Amaero will sit nicely on the watchlist. 

Would appreciate anyone else's thoughts :-)