3D printing manufacturer Stratasys staunched some of its recent hemorrhaging with a loss of $21.1 million in the first quarter, a stark improvement from last year’s same quarter, where losses totaled $220.9 million.
 
The elimination of goodwill impairment charges played heavily into Eden Prairie-based Stratasys’ recovery. In the previous three-month period ending March 31, Stratasys reported more than $150 million in goodwill write-offs—an accounting category that nearly amounted to Stratasys’ entire 2015 loses. Those charges are largely attributed to the devaluation of certain properties owned by the company, particularly its subsidiary MakerBot, which most recently outsourced its production to China to curb operating expenses.
 
This quarter, however, Stratasys had no goodwill write-offs whatsoever.
 
A trimming of various operating cost changes rounded out the last quarter of the company’s $200 million turnaround.
 
“Although the overall market environment remains challenging, we made significant progress in improving our operating efficiency during the first quarter,” Stratasys CEO David Reis said in a statement. “We believe the recent refinements of our operating structure will make us more productive and better position us for future growth.”
 
The company reported $167.9 million in revenue on sales of 5,125 3D printing and additive manufacturing systems. This was down slightly from last year’s first quarter when the company had revenues of $172.7 million from 7,536 units sold.
 
Stratasys outpaced Wall Street expectations of $165 million in revenue. It also beat analysts’ predictions of 5 cents per share net loss, which actually turned out to be a 1 cent net gain.
 
Company stock reacted favorably in early morning trading with a 9 percent increase from the previous close. As of noon Monday, Stratasys shares have since leveled out and are back near Friday’s close of $21.06.