Not all big tech companies are in America. ASML is the largest tech company in Europe. 

Past performance is not indicative of future results.

Nowadays, everyone who follows the financial markets is especially attentive to the movements of big technology companies. Some years ago, the most famous were the “FANG” stocks, which refers to the stocks of four leading American tech companies: Facebook (META), Amazon (AMZN), Netflix (NFLX), and Alphabet (GOOG). Then they were replaced with the “FAANG”, which were the same companies, with Apple (AAPL) added to the list. Recently the market has started to speak about the terms “Magnificent Seven” or “Super 7”: Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN), Microsoft (MSFT), Meta Platforms (META), Alphabet (GOOG), Tesla (TSLA), and Nvidia (NVDA). 

It is reasonable that these are the most followed companies because they have revolutionized the world in the last decade; they are high quality companies and their shares have had an incredible return in recent years. 

A question that we can ask ourselves: is there a company in Europe with similar characteristics? The biggest technology company in Europe is ASML, founded in the Netherlands and listed on Euronext NL Stocks (AEB). ASML is a leading provider of lithography systems and solutions for the semiconductor industry. Besides being the European technology company with the highest capitalization, around 385 billion, they also have considerable technical expertise in their area. 

ASML has great strategic importance in the economic competition between the United States and China. Recently, ASML agreed to stop selling to China its most advanced extreme ultraviolet lithography machines for the manufacture of semiconductors, which forced China to develop this technology on its own. This technology is needed for smartphones, computers, cars, and medical equipment, but also for cutting edge weapons. The decision was made in response to US pressure to prevent China from acquiring technology that could be used for military purposes. 

This stock had a return of over 460% in the past five years. While this return may seem modest compared to NVIDIA’s 3200% gain, it outperformed Amazon’s 100%, Google’s 223%, and Meta’s 170%. 

• The closing price on June 10, 2024, was 963.4. The stock’s 52-week high was price 972.0 while the 52-week low was price 532.1. 

• Its Normalized P/E (TTM) is 46.63 while the average for the last 5 years is 32.98. 

• The TTM Dividend Yield is 0.64%. 

• The rerun on avg. Assets (TTM) 19.35% while the industry average is 4.57%. The rerun on avg. Equity (TTM) 59.03% while the industry average is 7.6%. 

• The Gross Margin (TTM) is 49.98% while the industry average is 30.49%. The Net Profit Margin (TTM) is 28.75% while the industry average is 7.73%. 

ASML’s Q4 2023 earnings presentation was on January 24. Due to the superior results obtained during the last quarter of 2023, the share price rose 9.72% on January 24 and 4.64% on January 25 continuing the bullish rally.  

After ASML’s Q1 2024 earnings on April 17, the price fell -6.68% although it recovered its previous value in a few weeks.