AMSTERDAM, Jan 30 (Reuters) - ASML, the top computer chip equipment maker, has announced its decision to halt reporting the most closely monitored metric in its quarterly financial reports, new order bookings. The company attributes this change to the metric being too "lumpy," leading to excessive share price volatility.
ASML emphasizes that its internal forecasts, derived from discussions with chipmakers on their capacity plans, provide a more reliable indicator. Given the considerable time (ranging from six to 18 months) required to fulfill new orders, interpreting quarterly data becomes challenging, often resulting in significant stock price fluctuations.
Chief Financial Officer Roger Dassen underscored, "The swing factor is significant."
Although some analysts deemed ASML's move regrettable, they largely understood the rationale behind it. Sara Russo from Bernstein noted, There is downside for investors, as we can currently monitor how average bookings are moving and assess confidence in the backlog for the next 12+ months.
Fourth-quarter bookings totaled 7.1 billion euros ($7.4 billion), marking a substantial increase from the preceding quarter's 2.6 billion euros, largely attributed to timing variations in orders from TSMC, a major chipmaker based in Taiwan.
Michael Roeg, an analyst from Degroof Petercam, commented, Capex for major spenders like TSMC, Intel, and Samsung already provides sufficient insights, supporting ASML's decision despite initial concerns about transparency.
Looking back on 2024, ASML's shares experienced significant fluctuations but ultimately aligned with forecasts issued in January. CFO Dassen highlighted, If you aggregate all those quarters, you can see it turned out rather well, can't you?
($1 = 0.9608 euros)