What Do Polaroid Cameras Have to Do With Your Next Big Investment Win?

Editor's note: Today, we're welcoming Josh Baylin to our team at Stansberry Research. Josh is a tech expert with more than 20 years of investment and entrepreneurial experience at firms like Legg Mason, Bloomberg, SAC Capital, and the robotics firm Brain Corp. He has excellent credentials and a wealth of experience, and we look forward to sharing his work with you in DailyWealth.

In 1947, Edwin Land transformed an entire industry overnight.

That's when he released the Polaroid instant camera.

Before then, photography workflow was inefficient and time-consuming. You'd take a picture. Then, you'd ship your film to distant processing centers. After days or weeks, your photos would finally return... assuming they weren't lost, damaged, or screwed up along the way.

Polaroid made taking pictures accessible, affordable, and immediate. Suddenly, anyone could have high-quality photographs in seconds. No more waiting on prints from distant facilities. It changed how people preserved their memories... And it upended the photography industry.

Today, manufacturing is going through the same "Polaroid moment." And it will help drive the biggest reshoring wave in American history.

Let me show you...

The Manufacturing Crisis Creating Your Opportunity

President Donald Trump's April 2 tariff announcement sent markets into one of their worst weeks this century. The S&P 500 Index fell 12% in the days following the announcement.

But the real story – and the real opportunity – lies in how American manufacturing must now transform.

The president recently raised the Chinese import tariffs to 145%. Companies can't absorb these costs... And consumers won't accept massive price hikes. (Perhaps that reality helped motivate the new U.S.-China deal to suspend most of the increase for 90 days.)

Meanwhile, traditional reshoring – bringing manufacturing back to one's home country – takes years. Most companies don't have that time... nor the capital.

A recent CNBC Supply Chain Survey reveals that 57% of companies can't afford traditional reshoring. Most estimate that rebuilding conventional domestic production would at least double manufacturing costs.

Enter 3D printing...

With industrial 3D printers, companies don't need to send designs overseas for manufacturing. These aren't hobby-grade desktop printers. Today's industrial systems make usable parts with materials like advanced polymers, metals, ceramics, and composites.

Plus, companies can deploy advanced 3D printing systems in weeks. It's why industrial printers are seeing a surge in demand. Thanks to tariffs, the sector is set up for explosive growth.

The conservative estimates show the market growing at more than a 16% compound annual growth rate ("CAGR"). More bullish projections put the rate above 23%. On average, we're looking at a market that will expand roughly 4.5 times between 2024 and 2032, growing from $17.3 billion to $78.5 billion.

The following chart shows the outlook from several market research firms...

This kind of paradigm shift creates immense wealth for early investors – like the ones who saw Polaroid's potential. During the '60s, the company's shares rocketed from a split-adjusted $7.50 to $150.

Your Manufacturing Revolution Profit Opportunity Is Here

The Polaroid instant camera transformed photography by bringing production home. And industrial 3D printing is transforming manufacturing by doing the same – allowing companies to produce domestically.

The market is projected to grow more than fourfold by 2032. So those who position their portfolios to capture this wave won't just participate in reshoring... They'll also profit handsomely.

Companies like Stratasys (SSYS) are worth keeping an eye on...

Stratasys is the blue-chip leader in polymer 3D printing. It has deployed more than 50,000 industrial systems globally and offers systems for production across industries like dental, medicine, and agriculture. It is well positioned to benefit from tariff-driven reshoring.

But what's just as compelling for investors is that this growth is occurring across multiple sectors...

For example, Boeing's (BA) partnership with the manufacturing research group Astro America just won a $95 million contract from the Army. The company will use 3D printing to produce the primary rotor system for the Apache helicopter.

Meanwhile, in the automotive sector, Ford Motor (F) has been rolling out 3D printing globally. Its old transmission factory in Cincinnati uses it to keep facilities going without waiting for replacement parts. Ford's 3D printing labs in Cologne, Germany and Valencia, Spain have developed more than 20,000 parts.

No matter how you choose to take advantage of this trend, the time to act is now... before the opportunity is fully priced into the market.

Good investing,

Josh Baylin