By Nina Kienle
Shares in ASM International rose on Wednesday after the Dutch supplier of semiconductor tools posted a better-than-expected finish to the year and set strong guidance for 2026 on the back of improved demand conditions.
In European midday trading, shares were trading 7.3% higher at 732.40 euros, and are up by more than 41% in the year to date.
ASM late Tuesday said fourth-quarter net profit amounted to 166.1 million euros ($192.9 million), down from 225.8 million euros in the prior year's period, but ahead of analysts' expectations of 141.2 million euros, according to estimates provided by Visible Alpha.
Gross profit--a closely watched metric for companies operating in the semiconductor industry--came in at 347.7 million euros, also beating Visible Alpha's consensus estimate of 338.5 million euros.
The group also confirmed its previously disclosed order intake of 802.8 million euros and revenue of 698.3 million euros.
ASM's performance was supported by strengthened demand in the logic and foundry segment and a rebound in orders from Chinese customers, the supplier said.
The results are incrementally positive, ING Market Research analyst Marc Hesselink said in a note to clients.
Looking ahead, the company is guiding for sequential revenue growth in the second quarter, as well as the second half of 2026. For the first quarter, revenue is anticipated to rise to 830 million euros, plus or minus 4%.
"Following the improvement in demand conditions in recent months, we now expect our sales in China to increase in 2026, a notable improvement from our earlier forecast of a double‑digit decline," ASM said.
ING's Hesselink expects 2026 consensus revenue to increase by a low-to-mid-single digit percentage and earnings before interest and taxes to rise by 5% to 10%.
ASM also said it would propose a 2025 dividend of 3.25 euros a share, above the 3 euros a share for the previous year, and set out a new share buyback program of up to 150 million euros in the 2026-27 period.
Write to Nina Kienle at nina.kienle@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 04, 2026 07:05 ET (12:05 GMT)
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