By George Glover
ASML stock was tumbling on Wednesday after the Dutch chip equipment manufacturer said that tariff uncertainty meant it couldn't guarantee growth in 2026.
The company's U.S. shares dropped 8.1% to $756.48 ahead of the opening bell. Futures tracking the benchmark S&P 500 were 0.1% lower.
The selloff came after ASML reported its second-quarter earnings. Orders of 5.54 billion euros ($6.44 billion) for the company's chip-making machines topped analysts' targets, but CEO Christophe Fouquet warned that growth in 2026 was no longer guaranteed amid uncertainty on multiple fronts.
While Fouquet didn't explicitly mention tariffs he cited mounting macroeconomic uncertainty.
"Looking at 2026, we see that our AI customers' fundamentals remain strong. At the same time, we continue to see increasing uncertainty driven by macro-economic and geopolitical developments," Fouquet said in an earnings release. "Therefore, while we still prepare for growth in 2026, we cannot confirm it at this stage."
ASML also narrowed its guidance for this year. It's now predicting sales to rise 15% to EUR32.5 billion, having previously forecast a range of EUR30 billion to EUR35 billion. Analysts are expecting sales of EUR32.36 billion, according to a FactSet poll.
U.S. tariffs have made it tough for European companies to stand by past profit guidance. President Donald Trump has threatened 30% levies on the European Union from Aug. 1, and the trading bloc is preparing retaliatory tariffs. That could make it more expensive for ASML to ship its chip tools to Intel and other American customers.
As of Tuesday's closing bell, ASML's U.S. shares were down 12% over the past year. The S&P 500 is up 10% over the same period.
Write to George Glover at george.glover@dowjones.com
This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
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July 16, 2025 04:58 ET (08:58 GMT)
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