Strong Q3 puts on ASML on track for another growth year

With sales coming in at 4.0 billion euros, ASML managed to beat its own expectations of 3.6-3.8 billion euros for the third quarter. Forecasting between 3.6 and 3.8 billion euros in fourth-quarter revenue, the equipment maker is on course to surpass last year’s 11.8 billion euro revenue by at least 1.5 billion euros – a year-on-year growth of 12.7 percent or more.

The corona pandemic heavily impacted ASML’s results at the start of the year, but already by the end of the second quarter, operational capabilities had returned largely back to normal and revenues climbed accordingly (2.4 billion euros in Q1, 3.3 billion in Q2). Last quarter, ASML saw no more major disruptions due to Covid-19, neither in its own operations nor in the supply chain.

All in all, therefore, corona isn’t slowing down ASML much, if at all. For 2021, it’s expecting low double-digit growth again. “There are of course uncertainties due to the macro environment, including the economic impact of Covid-19 and geopolitical developments. However, the secular end-market drivers are still in place – such as 5G, AI and high-performance computing – which fuel demand for advanced process nodes both in logic and memory, requiring advanced lithography,” said ASML CEO Peter Wennink.