ASML May Say Profit Dropped as It Sold Fewer Machines: Outlook

By Marcel van de Hoef

July 15 (Bloomberg) -- ASML Holding NV, Europe's largest maker of semiconductor equipment, may say profit fell to the lowest in nine quarters as the company sold fewer of its $27 million machines.

Second-quarter net income may have slipped to 106.4 million euros ($170.1 million) from 160.5 million euros a year earlier, based on the median estimate of 11 analysts Bloomberg News surveyed by telephone and e-mail. Revenue probably fell 13 percent to 812 million euros, also the lowest since the first quarter of 2006.

The Veldhoven, Netherlands-based company is scheduled to report second-quarter earnings tomorrow at 7 a.m. local time. Following is a table of median estimates of analysts Bloomberg News surveyed by telephone and e-mail. All figures are in millions of euros, except for earnings per share, units and gross margin. ASP stands for average selling price.

2Q 2008 2Q 2007 Estimates
Sales 812 935.2 11
Operating profit 137 207.8 10
Net income 106.4 160.5 11
Basic EPS 0.25 0.34 10

Gross margin 40% 41.1% 10
Unit shipments 42 69 10
Unit shipments new 33 65 8
ASP shipments 17 12 9
ASP shipments new 21.1 12.7 7
Bookings units 30 30 11
Bookings new 24 22 7
ASP bookings 19 13.3 6
Backlog units 54 109 9
Backlog value 1,057 1,745 8

3Q 2008 Estimates

Unit shipments 38 11
ASP 17.5 6
ASP new 19.9 6
Bookings units 39 7
Gross margin 38.5% 9
Sales 741 6

To contact the reporter on this story: Marcel van de Hoef in Amsterdam at mvandehoef@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: July 15, 2008 09:37 EDT

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