One of the most perilous times in a company’s publicly-traded life cycle is when it transitions from being a differentiated break-out growth story to a more “regular” type of company with more competition and less capacity for differentiation. Often there are many investors who are unable (or unwilling) to see the change and they’ll respond to any sell-offs or criticism with “just buy it and don’t worry”.
I’ve heard exactly that in response to past articles on IPG Photonics (IPGP) highlighting the increased competition the company is facing and the challenges in finding