Stratasys (NASDAQ: SSYS) is slated to report its first-quarter 2021 results before the market open on Wednesday, May 5. Its conference call with analysts is scheduled that day at 8:30 a.m. EDT. The 3D printing company's report will come ahead of that of its fellow early mover in the industry, 3D Systems (NYSE: DDD), which plans to announce its first-quarter results after the market close on Monday, May 10, as outlined in this 3D Systems earnings preview. Like 3D Systems and other companies that have a significant concentration of customers in the industrial sector, Stratasys' 2020 results were hurt by the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. The good news, however, is that its results in the second half of last year improved relative to the first half. In 2021, Stratasys stock is up 10.7% through April 22. This performance is in line with the S&P 500's 10.6% return, but significantly trails 3D Systems stock's 106% gain. Here's what to watch in Stratasys' Q1 report. Image source: Getty Images. Key numbers Here are the company's results from the year-ago period and Wall Street's consensus estimates to use as benchmarks. Metric Q1 2020 Result Wall Street's Q1 2021 Consensus Estimate Wall Street's Projected Change (YOY) Revenue $132.9 million $132.3 million (0.5%) Adjusted earnings per share (EPS) ($0.19) ($0.06) N/A. Loss expected to narrow by 68% Data sources: Stratasys and Yahoo! Finance. YOY = year over year. Management guided for first-quarter revenue "similar" to the company's year-ago revenue, which explains the Wall Street consensus estimate. For context, last quarter, Stratasys' revenue fell 13% year over year to $142.4 million. That result topped the $135.1 million consensus estimate and was an 11% increase from the prior quarter. Adjusted EPS was $0.13, down from $0.18 in the year-ago period, but much better than the breakeven result ($0.00) analysts had expected. Last quarter, 3D Systems posted revenue growth of 2.6% year over year, so its top-line performance was notably better than Stratasys'. 3D printer and material sales Investors should continue to focus on sales of 3D printers and print materials. As I wrote last quarter, "This data reflects how well the company's razor-and-blade business strategy is working. Sales of 3D printers (the 'razors') are ultra-important because they drive sales of print materials (the 'blades'), which have high profit margins." Last quarter, Stratasys' 3D printer revenue dropped 8% year over year, and print materials revenue fell 10%. These are hardly the type of results investors want to see, but they do at least represent a considerable improvement from the prior couple of quarters, which were torpedoed by the pandemic. In the third and second quarters of 2020, printer revenue plunged 21% and 36% year over year, respectively, while print materials revenue plunged 22% and 31%. Second-quarter guidance Last quarter, the company said that "second-quarter 2021 revenue should approximate mid-teens percentage growth year over year." Any notable change in this guidance would probably move the stock in one direction or the other. 10 stocks we like better than StratasysWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.* David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the ten best stocks for investors to buy right now... and Stratasys wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys. See the 10 stocks *Stock Advisor returns as of February 24, 2021 Beth McKenna has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends 3D Systems. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.Source