By Toby Sterling
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) -ASML Holding NV, a key supplier to computer chip makers, on Wednesday reported first quarter earnings that beat expectations, as customers received its products at swift clip despite signs of weakness in end markets.
The company’s net profit for the quarter ended March 31 was 1.96 billion euros ($2.15 billion), nearly 3 times higher than 695 million euros a year ago. Its revenue was up 91% at 6.74 billion euros.
Analysts had forecast net profit of 1.62 billion euros on revenue of 6.31 billion euros, according to Refinitiv data.
CEO Peter Wennink said that some of ASML’s customers were tweaking the timing of receiving tools or otherwise taking note of the changed situation, but the company’s outlook is still strong.
“The overall demand still exceeds our capacity for this year and we currently have an (order) backlog of over 38.9 billion euros,” he said.
ASML, Europe’s largest technology firm by market capitalization, plays a key role in the semiconductor industry as it dominates the market for lithography equipment, used to create the minute circuitry of chips.
($1 = 0.9118 euros)
(Reporting by Toby Sterling; Editing by Shri Navaratnam and Varun H K)
