ASML Q4 Profit Climbs On Higher System Sales, Price

(RTTNews) - Dutch semiconductor equipment maker ASML Holding NV (ASML) reported Wednesday significantly higher profit in its fourth quarter, with higher system sales, selling price and improved margin. Looking ahead, for the first quarter, the company sees sequentially lower net sales and margin.

For the fourth quarter, net income climbed to 524.2 million euros from 292.4 million euros last year. Earnings per share were 1.22 euros, higher than 0.68 euro a year ago.

Total net sales grew to 1.91 billion euros from 1.43 billion euros a year ago. Net system sales climbed to 1.22 billion euros from 881 million euros last year.

Net service and field option sales grew to 684.4 million euros from 553.3 million euros a year ago.

Gross profit as a percentage of net sales improved to 47.2% from 46% last year. Income from operations margin was 27.8%, higher than prior year's 22.2%.

Sales of systems grew to 38 from last year's 37 units. Average selling price of system sales climbed to 32.2 million euros from 23.8 million euros a year ago.

Net bookings remained flat at 44 units. The company's system backlog was 83 units, higher than 79 units last year. Value of systems backlog improved to 3.96 billion euros from 3.18 billion euros a year ago.

Further, ASML said it will propose at the 2017 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders a dividend for 2016 of 1.20 euros per share, 14 percent higher than last year.

Looking ahead, for the first-quarter of 2017, ASML expects net sales at approximately 1.8 billion euros, and a gross margin of around 47 percent

The company noted that the trends experienced in 2016 are expected to continue into 2017.

On Nasdaq, ASML shares gained 0.53 percent on Tuesday and settled at $115.91. In the extended trading, the shares lost 0.21 percent.