CEO Christophe Fouquet apologies ! It remains "a pearl" says the Association of Securities Owners

ASML's bad news was not in turnover or profit. While these are the most important indicators for many companies, this is not the case with ASML. Order terms are long. This means that to assess how well things are going, orders are mainly taken into account. Analysts expected more than 5 billion euros in new orders, but that turned out to be only half. In addition, expectations for next year are worse than expected. And that is really a shock for analysts. Although demand for chips for "AI" applications remains high, the recovery continues in the automotive sector and PC, for example.
ASML has had the same message for several quarters: this year is a GAP YEAR , we will GROW SIGNIFICANTLY again from 2025. Everyone held on to that. Also because this was confirmed again this summer. Financial CEO Roger Dassen said the company was "on the right track" to achieve an annual turnover of around 35 billion euros in 2025. The company now thinks it will be a few billion less.
ING analyst Marc Hesselink sent out a sharp comment this morning under the headline "ouch, that hurts". He points out that ASML said last quarter that 2025 will be a strong year and in his view that affects the company's credibility. He thinks it will take some time to regain trust.
Gerben Everts, of the Association of Securities Owners, emphasizes that ASML remains "a pearl on the stock market". "ASML has a very good reputation, a kind of aura of reliability. That is precisely why it is hit hard by a relatively small mistake." And although 2025 looks less rosy than previously expected, ASML continues to emphasize that the long term looks good.

An important cause are the problems at chip manufacturer Intel. Two weeks after ASML had assured analysts that everything was going in the right direction, the American giant had to put on the brakes. Intel will invest 10 billion less. A month and a half later it became clear that it had direct consequences for the construction of factories in Germany. The plans are postponed for two years, which has consequences for ASML's order book.
But there is more going on that makes the situation for ASML look less rosy. Things are also not going so well at another important customer, Samsung. The South Korean company even found reason to apologize at the beginning of this month for not meeting expectations.
"China also" plays a role in the reduced expectations. In recent quarters, up to 50 percent of turnover came from that country. After a temporary peak, this returns to what ASML calls "normal levels", around 20 percent. In addition, as the company itself says, there is "speculation" that there may be additional export measures for the machines that it is allowed to ship to China. ASML says that this has also been a reason to be more cautious about the turnover prospects.