ASML stock price plunges 16% after tech firm accidentally publishes Q3 earnings early

Dutch high-tech company ASML saw its share price fall by about 16 percent after the company accidentally published its earnings report for the third quarter a day early. Shares in the microchip machinery manufacturer closed on the Euronext Amsterdam exchange at 668.10 euros, down 127.60 euros from when trading opened on Tuesday morning.

Minutes before 4:30 p.m., trading volume surged as the Veldhoven-based firm’s shares dropped. The earnings report, shown briefly on the company’s website, showed that the their third quarter bookings amounted to more than 2.6 billion euros. This was a substantial fall compared to 5.6 billion euros in the previous quarter.

The bookings figures were also far below analyst expectations, causing an almost immediate 15-percent fall in share value. Trading in ASML stock was temporarily halted, lower than analysts had expected. The ASML stock dropped significantly at the stock exchange in Amsterdam by almost 15 percent. Trading in the stock was temporarily halted as a result, and the share price rebounded a bit before closing at its lowest point since January 18. Other chip machine manufacturers, Besi and ASMI, also dropped by about 13 percent.

ASML said it was a technical malfunction that led to their quarterly figures being released early. This was supposed to happen before the market opens at 9 a.m. on Wednesday. The company took the press release and quarterly figures offline shortly after they were published, but they were live on ASML's website again by the time the Euronext Amsterdam exchange closed on Tuesday.

“We expect our 2025 total net sales to grow to a range between 30-35 billion euros, which is the lower half of the range that we provided at our 2022 Investor Day,” said ASML CEO Christophe Fouquet in the leaked statement.

“While there continue to be strong developments and upside potential in AI, other market segments are taking longer to recover,” said the director of the company. “It now appears the recovery is more gradual than previously expected. This is expected to continue in 2025, which is leading to customer cautiousness,” Fouquet warned.

A draft of the accompanying press release which was briefly posted to the ASML website showed that the company earned net income of 2.1 billion euros in the third quarter on net sales revenue of 7.5 billion euros. The profit grew by 200 million euros compared to a year earlier, while revenue grew by 800 million euros compared to the third quarter of 2023.

Year-to-year quarterly bookings held at 2.6 billion euros, but the last three months saw 1.4 billion euros due to orders of its highest level chip manufacturing process, extreme ultraviolet lithography or EUV. This accounted for 500 million euros in the same quarter a year ago.

“ASML expects Q4 2024 total net sales between 8.8 billion euros and 9.2 billion euros, and a gross margin between 49 percent and 50 percent,” the company said in the draft statement. This would bring net sales up to about 28 billion euros for the 2024 calendar year.

The Dutch tech giant forecast net sales of 30 to 35 billion euros for all of 2025. ASML recently announced a restructuring, which it hopes will lead to a gross margin of 51 to 53 percent next year.