ASM Litho set to offer insight into H2
AMSTERDAM, July 19 (Reuters) - ASM Lithography NV (Nasdaq:ASML - news), due to report first half figures early on Wednesday, has already said it expects income to be around break-even and analysts will be looking for signs of a recovery in the second half.
The consensus of forecasts from analysts polled by Reuters is for a first half profit of 7.4 million euros at the world's second largest maker of steppers and scanners -- machines that carve out computer chip circuitry.
Analysts' forecasts range from a three million euro loss to a 31.8 million euro profit, compared with a profit of 63.5 million euros for the first half of 1998.
A sharp fall in income when ASML reports its figures before Wednesday's bourse opening would be in line with the company's own forecast of little to no improvement from the last six months of 1998. In that period it made a small loss.
But the company has predicted a slow recovery in the second half and analysts will be scrutinising ASML's order book for evidence to bear this out.
Last year, ASML received orders for 55 systems, down from 275 in 1997. This left it with a backlog of 51 systems at end-1998, compared with 158 units a year before.
While ASML probably shipped a break-even level of 60-65 units in the first half, analysts expect its backlog to have substantially improved to over 100.
They will be hoping for some detailed information on the take-up and margins of ASML's higher grade /700 systems as well as more general indications of an industry upturn.
''We'll want to know what the backlog is at end June. It's probably doubled. And we'll want to see that (lower technology) I-line steppers are only a minor part,'' said Kempen analyst Wouter de Ridder.
''Everyone seems to be seeing good booking trends. South Korea and Taiwan are still spending, but it's not clear whether the DRAM (dynamic random accesss memory chips) companies are buying,'' said one London-based analyst.
The slow pace of recovery has not stopped ASML being one of the outperformers in the Dutch stock market, hitting a peak of 68.25 euros on Monday, 160 percent up from its year-end close.
Philips Electronics holds a minority stake in ASML. |
