ASML Holding Reports Strong Q4 Results

ASML Holding (ASML) has reported fourth quarter and full-year 2021 financial results. The company engages in the development, production, marketing, sale and servicing of advanced semiconductor equipment consisting of lithography related systems.

Net sales in the fourth quarter increased 17.2% year-over-year to €5 billion. The upside can be attributed to higher net system sales, along with net service and field option sales. ASML reported net income per share of €4.38, up from €3.23 in the year-ago quarter.

Net bookings of €7.1 billion were reported during the quarter, including €2.6 billion from 0.33 NA and 0.55 NA EUV systems.

For 2021, net sales increased 33.1% to €18.6 billion, including €6.3 billion from 42 EUV systems. Also, net income per share rose 69.1% to €14.34.

The President and CEO of ASML, Peter Wennink, said, “We experience higher demand for our systems than our production capacity can accommodate. Very strong demand in end markets puts pressure on our customers for more wafer output. In order to support our customers, we are providing them with high-productivity upgrade solutions for their installed base, and we are reducing cycle time in our factory to ship more systems.”

Further, the company seeks to declare a total dividend of €5.50 per share for 2021, up 100% from €2.75 per share declared in 2020.

Outlook

ASML expects first-quarter 2022 net sales in the range of €3.3 billion to €3.5 billion and a gross margin of around 49%. Poor sales guidance quarter is due to a significant number of fast shipments, translating to about €2 billion of expected revenue shift from the first quarter to subsequent quarters.

Also, the company anticipates R&D costs of around €760 million and SG&A costs of around €210 million.

For 2022, ASML expects revenue growth of around 20%, after considering fast-shipment-related revenue shifts of six EUV systems into 2023.

Stock Rating

The Wall Street community is cautiously optimistic about the stock with a Moderate Buy consensus rating based on 2 Buys and 1 Hold. The average ASML price target of $938.50 implies 31.2% upside potential to current levels.

News Sentiment

News Sentiment for ASML is Very Positive based on 17 articles over the past seven days. All articles have Bullish sentiment, compared to a sector average of 62%, and none have Bearish Sentiment, compared to a sector average of 38%.

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