(Bloomberg) — Shares of ASML Holding NV fell the most in 26 years after it booked only about half the orders analysts expected in the third quarter and cut 2025 expectations, an ugly surprise that was compounded reinforced by the company announcing its financial results a day earlier. planned.
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Order bookings reached €2.6 billion ($2.8 billion) in the third quarter, missing an average estimate of €5.39 billion by analysts polled by Bloomberg. A downturn in the semiconductor industry slowed demand for the Dutch company’s chip machines.
The results caused shares in Amsterdam to plunge 16% to close at €668.10, the biggest drop since June 12, 1998. After the fall, trading was briefly halted.
“It now appears that the recovery is more gradual than previously expected. This is expected to continue into 2025, leading to customer caution,” CEO Christophe Fouquet said in the statement.
The company mistakenly released the statement, which was expected Wednesday, and will soon issue an explanation for the premature release, a person familiar with the matter said.
The company lowered its expectations for total net sales in 2025 to the lower half of the range between €30 billion and €35 billion. Next year, the company expects “a gross margin between 51% and 53%, which is below the margin we quoted at the time, mainly due to the delayed timing of EUV demand,” Fouquet said.
Shares of Europe’s most valuable technology company have fallen by a third since hitting a record high in July, hurt by the prospect of more US restrictions on its operations in China, as well as broader weakness in the sector.
Last month, the Netherlands published new export control rules that required ASML to apply for export licenses in The Hague instead of the US for some of its older machines. That followed a Bloomberg report that the Dutch government would restrict some of ASML’s ability to repair and maintain its semiconductor equipment in China.
China remained ASML’s largest market, accounting for 47% of revenue in the quarter.
(Updates with details from the first paragraph.)
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