Barclays Maintains Hold Rating on ASML Holding NV with €650 Price Target

Barclays analyst Simon Coles maintained a Hold rating on ASML Holding NV with a price target of €650.00. The company's shares closed at €624.10. Coles has a 2.4% average return and a 54.05% success rate on recommended stocks. ASML Holding NV has a one-year high of €899.90 and a one-year low of €508.30.

Dutch chip equipment maker ASML Holdings N.V. (ASML) reported a robust rebound in net bookings for the second quarter of fiscal year 2025, with net income of €5.9 per share ($6.86) and net sales increasing 23% year over year (YoY) to €7.69 billion. The company's stock climbed 0.71% in overnight trading following the earnings report [1].

The company's quarterly net bookings totaled €5.5 billion, of which €2.3 billion were for extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography systems used in advanced microchip production, serving major clients such as Apple (AAPL) and Nvidia (NVDA). While net bookings slipped 1.8% YoY, they jumped 40% sequentially, exceeding the consensus estimate [1].

ASML's CEO, Christophe Fouquet, noted that the company's second-quarter net sales of €7.7 billion were at the top end of its guidance, driven by higher upgrade business and one-offs resulting in lower costs. Looking ahead, ASML expects third-quarter net sales to be between €7.4 billion and €7.9 billion, with a gross margin of 50%-52% [1].

Fouquet also highlighted the strong fundamentals of the company's AI customers but cautioned about the fluid external environment, stating that while the company is preparing for growth in 2026, it cannot confirm it at this stage due to increasing uncertainty driven by macroeconomic and geopolitical developments [1].

Analysts have mixed reactions to ASML's earnings report. Berenberg Bank and Goldman Sachs maintained their Buy ratings with price targets of €740.00 and €935.00, respectively, while DZ BANK AG downgraded ASML to a Hold rating, citing a Moderate Buy consensus rating and a €754.40 average price target [2, 3]. Barclays analyst Simon Coles maintained a Hold rating with a price target of €650.00 [4].

ASML's shares closed at €625.80, up from €705.37 at the end of the previous trading day, and have gained more than 19% year-to-date. Investors should closely monitor ASML's earnings releases and guidance updates to gauge the impact of geopolitical and economic uncertainties on the company's growth prospects.

References:
[1] https://local.newsbreak.com/stocktwits-303303202/4111106042054-asml-s-bookings-rebound-strongly-in-q2-amid-ai-demand-surge-but-ceo-says-can-t-confirm-chip-equipment-maker-will-grow-in-2026
[2] https://www.ainvest.com/news/berenberg-reaffirms-buy-rating-asml-holding-nv-price-target-740-00-2507/
[3] https://www.ainvest.com/news/asml-holding-downgraded-hold-rating-dz-bank-ag-analyst-2507/
[4] https://www.ainvest.com/news/barclays-analyst-simon-coles-maintains-hold-rating-asml-holding-nv-price-target-650-00-2507/