(Bloomberg) — ASML Holding NV’s shares plunged the most in 26 years after it booked only about half the orders analysts expected in the third quarter and lowered guidance for 2025, an ugly surprise amplified by the company releasing its financial results a day earlier than scheduled.
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Order bookings were €2.6 billion ($2.8 billion) in the third quarter, missing an average estimate of €5.39 billion by analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. A downturn in the semiconductor industry curbed demand for the Dutch company’s chip-making machines.
The results caused shares to plunge 16% in Amsterdam to close at €668.10, the biggest decline since June 12, 1998. Trading was briefly halted after the fall.
“It now appears the recovery is more gradual than previously expected. This is expected to continue in 2025, which is leading to customer cautiousness,” Chief Executive Officer Christophe Fouquet said in the statement.
The company released the statement, which was expected on Wednesday, by mistake and will soon publish an explanation of the premature publication, a person familiar with the matter said.
The company lowered its guidance for 2025 total net sales 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 range we then provided, mainly related to the delayed timing of EUV demand,” Fouquet said.
Europe’s most valuable technology company’s shares have fallen by a third since hitting a record high in July, hurt by the prospect of more US restrictions on its business in China, as well as a broader weakness in the sector.
Last month, the Netherlands published new export control rules that made ASML apply for export licenses in The Hague instead of US for some of its older machines. That came on the heels of a Bloomberg report that the Dutch government would limit some of ASML’s ability to repair and maintain its semiconductor equipment in China.
China remained ASML’s biggest market, accounting for 47% of sales in the quarter.
(Updates with details starting in first paragraph.)
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