Institutional ticker directory tracking stock mentions, long/short ideas, and high-conviction pitches extracted from quarterly hedge fund letters.
| Ticker | Company | Sector | Industry | Pitches | Stance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fund / Manager | Thesis Excerpt | Stance | Period / Date | Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Sands Capital International Growth Fund David E. Levanson, CFA and Danielle J. Menichella, CFA | “ASML is a Dutch semiconductor equipment company specializing in lithography systems, which chipmakers use to print patterns on silicon wafers. ASML's investment results primarily reflected rising long-term expectations for memory systems sales, as AI demand increases the need for advanced DRAM and logic chips. We believe lithography capacity could become one of the hardest constraints to scaling AI infrastructure, potentially creating tight supply conditions for years. Our bottom-up analysis suggests both Chinese and non-Chinese fabs may need to materially increase lithography capacity to meet AI chip demand. Agentic AI could also increase CPU intensity in data centers, with some observers expecting the CPU-to-GPU ratio to move from one CPU per four to eight GPUs toward one-to-one or higher. For ASML, more advanced CPUs and broader AI infrastructure buildout should support additional leading-edge logic demand. We believe ASML remains well positioned as AI drives greater chip complexity, higher wafer requirements, and increased lithography intensity.” | NEUTRAL | Q2 2026 Jul 31, 2026 | View Pitch |
Sands Capital Global Growth Fund Brian A. Christiansen, David E. Levanson, Daniel Pilling | “ASML is a Dutch semiconductor equipment company specializing in lithography systems, which chipmakers use to print patterns on silicon wafers. ASML's investment results primarily reflected rising long-term expectations for memory systems sales, as AI demand increases the need for advanced DRAM and logic chips. We believe lithography capacity could become one of the hardest constraints to scaling AI infrastructure, potentially creating tight supply conditions for years. Our bottom-up analysis suggests both Chinese and non-Chinese fabs may need to materially increase lithography capacity to meet AI chip demand. Agentic AI could also increase CPU intensity in data centers, with some observers expecting the CPU-to-GPU ratio to move from one CPU per four to eight GPUs toward one-to-one or higher. For ASML, more advanced CPUs and broader AI infrastructure buildout should support additional leading-edge logic demand. We believe ASML remains well positioned as AI drives greater chip complexity, higher wafer requirements, and increased lithography intensity.” | NEUTRAL | Q2 2026 Jul 31, 2026 | View Pitch |
Baillie Gifford -International Concentrated Growth Lawrence Burns / Paulina McPadden | “Those exposed to growing AI capital expenditure have performed strongly, and our large semiconductor holdings in TSMC and ASML have continued to benefit. ASML is the only company in the world that makes EUV lithography machines, the tools without which those chips cannot be made. The appeal of both is that they are an agnostic royalty on the rising use of AI: whichever application or model prevails, they benefit regardless. Owning this layer of the AI supply chain is one of the clearest attractions of investing outside the US. These new additions were funded by the reduction of holdings that have continued to perform strongly, TSMC and ASML in particular, as well as Delivery Hero and French luxury business Kering, which has been improving following some difficult years.” | NEUTRAL | Q2 2026 Jul 23, 2026 | View Pitch |
“We believe semiconductor capital equipment (semicap) is currently the most attractive subsector within semiconductors because the tremendous demand for compute and memory will drive a much higher-for-longer wafer fab equipment (WFE) capex cycle. Our preferred semicap exposure remains ASML, which we first wrote about in our September 2025 letter. In that letter, we outlined and debunked the main bear arguments levied against the business, and the stock price has nearly doubled since. Despite the strong stock price performance, ASML has nonetheless derated materially against its large semicap peers. The historical premium that ASML used to command over the other four semicap majors (Applied Materials, Lam Research, KLA Corp and Tokyo Electron) has fully closed and the stock now trades at a discount to peers. We think ASML is one of the cleanest ways to play the next leg of the AI infrastructure buildout. The company sits at a critical bottleneck in the semiconductor supply chain, its EUV tools are becoming increasingly important across both leading-edge logic and DRAM, and our unit forecasts sit materially above consensus for both EUV and immersion DUV. While the stock has performed strongly, we do not believe expectations yet reflect the scale or duration of the coming WFE cycle, nor the potential for ASML to capture more of the value it enables. We continue to see healthy upside from here, and ASML remains a core position in the Fund.” | BULL | Q2 2026 Jul 15, 2026 | View Pitch | |
“In an otherwise dismal quarter for growth equities, shares of ASML and Micron delivered strong returns gaining +24% and +18% respectively during the first quarter. ASML makes the machines that make th” | BULL | Q1 2026 May 5, 2026 | View Pitch | |
Hardman Johnston Global Equity Cassandra A. Hardman | “Shares of ASML, the sole supplier of EUV lithography equipment, benefited from market recognition of the need to expand leading edge semiconductor manufacturing capacity to meet the unprecedented buil” | BULL | Q1 2026 Apr 12, 2026 | View Pitch |
Silvant Focused Growth Fund Portfolio Manager | “Despite missing earnings estimates, ASML posted an exceptional 89% upside surprise in orders that supported a strong stock performance. Improved near-term visibility from upbeat forward guidance and robust fundamental dynamics prompted the fund to maintain its position.” | BULL | Q1 2026 Mar 31, 2026 | View Pitch |
Baillie Gifford -International All Cap Tom Coutts | “ASML, based in the Netherlands, is the world's sole manufacturer of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography tools for the semiconductor industry. The company operates as an effective monopoly, supplying every major logic and memory foundry that produces leading-edge semiconductors. Its customers include Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), Samsung, Intel, and SK Hynix, each buying systems that can cost more than $200 million. Eagle acquired the position in 2025 during a temporary downturn in the business. At the time, there was a powerful narrative that the industry was at “peak lithography” and that, with TSMC as the company's only healthy customer, ASML's strategic leverage had weakened. Most of the issues were cyclical: as memory customers healed and TSMC needed capacity, ASML orders improved accordingly. ASML's competitive position is a remarkable story of industrial innovation. 30 years ago, the company only had 15% share of the lithography market, with two Japanese firms dominating the rest. As the industry moved to deep ultraviolet (DUV) and immersion lithography, ASML began to pull away. By 2006, it had more than 50% of the market. Later, ASML was the only firm able to migrate to EUV. Because this technology is so expensive and in demand, the company's 100% share here translates to well over 90% of the total lithography market. ASML is well positioned to capitalize on the growing demand for complex, larger silicon wafers, driven by AI adoption and increasingly challenging physics. We believe it will grow EPS in the mid-to-high-teens over the next five years. BSD Analysis: ASML is the most important company in semiconductors that most consumers have never heard of. Its EUV machines are not just advanced — they are irreplaceable at the leading edge. There is no Plan B for customers who want to build cutting-edge chips. Backlog visibility is strong because the technology roadmap forces dependence. Cyclicality shows up in timing, not relevance. Gross margins reflect monopoly-like positioning in a brutally complex niche. Geopolitical restrictions add noise but reinforce strategic importance. This is not a typical chip equipment stock. It's a choke point in global compute scaling.” | BULL | Q4 2025 Jan 1, 2026 | View Pitch |
Baillie Gifford -International All Cap Tom Coutts | “We highlighted how ASML is a monopoly in the semiconductor industry during an AI boom. Our writeup outlined the bear case arguments and explained our reasoning for why they were misguided. Other investors began to agree with our investment thesis, sending the stock from around €600 per share to north of €900 per share in the span of a quarter. BSD Analysis: ASML's moat is near-monopoly control of EUV lithography—arguably the most important bottleneck in advanced semiconductor manufacturing. That's not just technology; it's an ecosystem of suppliers, physics talent, and decades of iteration. Demand is cyclical, but the strategic necessity is structural. The risk is geopolitics: export controls and China restrictions can reshape growth and mix. Customers are concentrated, but alternatives don't exist at the leading edge. The bull case is continued node advancement and capacity buildouts. The bear case is capex digestion and policy-driven revenue ceilings. ASML is a monopoly priced like a monopoly—because it basically is. When the cycle turns, it still hurts, but the moat remains.” | BULL | Q4 2025 Jan 1, 2026 | View Pitch |
Appalaches Capital, LLC Jake Keys | “Take Alphabet and ASML, for instance. Over the course of the year, Alphabet's share price ranged anywhere from ~$140 to ~$328, despite being covered by over 50 analysts and being one of the largest companies in the world. ASML's share price similarly varied anywhere from ~$575 to ~$1,140, despite being the largest company in Europe. Did their intrinsic values fluctuate this much over the course of the year? I would find that unlikely. If it is not an informational gap, then what is it? It is my opinion that academic models of market efficiency oversimplify the mechanics of the market. Markets are made up of individuals acting on the same information, but under different constraints, incentives and pressures that distort prices away from intrinsic value. ASML exemplifies how even monopolistic, mission-critical businesses can experience extreme valuation swings unrelated to fundamentals. BSD Analysis: ASML's moat is absolute control of the most critical bottleneck in advanced semiconductor manufacturing. EUV lithography is not a product—it's an industrial barrier built over decades that competitors cannot shortcut. Customers don't negotiate alternatives; they queue. Cyclicality affects order timing and earnings, but never strategic relevance. Capital intensity is extreme, yet unavoidable to maintain leadership. Geopolitics caps some end markets while simultaneously reinforcing ASML's strategic importance elsewhere. Pricing power flows from monopoly physics, not contracts. The bull case is continued node advancement driven by AI and advanced computing. ASML is one of the few true monopolies that still earns its premium.” | BULL | Q4 2025 Dec 31, 2025 | View Pitch |
Edgewood Management Alan Breed | “Boasting a near-monopoly in crucial photolithography technology, the company is an essential beneficiary of secular semi-conductor growth. Short-term stock declines tied to tariff and timing uncertainties are distinct from the company's vast addressable market and durable competitive position.” | BULL | Q3 2025 Sep 30, 2025 | View Pitch |
Edgewood Management Alan Breed | “Leading producer (~90% market share) of photolithography machines used in semiconductor manufacturing. ASML's machines enable chips to become smaller and more power efficient every year. Thesis: Secular tailwinds (AI, robotics, cloud, electrification) will continue to drive demand for chips. ASML's EUV & High NA EUV machines continue to be essential equipment and will drive double digit revenue & earnings growth. Q2 Results: Revenue +41% (€7.7B), and EPS +47%. Reiterated FY2025 revenue & EPS guidance. What happened: Stock declined on 2026 revenue growth uncertainty. Edgewood's View: The negative stock reaction had nothing to do with ASML's competitive moat or the size of the market opportunity, rather it was a timing issue related to tariff uncertainty. Over a multi-year period we feel that ASML will compound revenue & earnings at a high teens rate. Resulting Action: Spoke with management. Did additional due diligence on ASML's technology moat. We added 50bps in late July. BSD Analysis: ASML owns the most critical choke point in advanced semiconductor manufacturing. EUV lithography is not optional at the frontier — and no one else can deliver it at scale. Backlogs are long because customers have no substitute. Cyclicality shows up in timing, not relevance. Gross margins reflect monopoly-level positioning in a brutally complex niche. Geopolitical export controls create noise but reinforce strategic importance. Capital intensity is extreme, yet returns justify it. This is not a typical equipment stock. It's the gatekeeper to next-generation compute.” | BULL | Q3 2025 Sep 30, 2025 | View Pitch |
Bell Global Equities Fund Ned Bell | “The Dutch semiconductor equipment manufacturer benefited from renewed investor interest amid strong AI-related demand, with several analysts upgrading the stock after a challenging year to date. While management reset expectations in June with a FY26 profit warning, recent evidence suggests its technology moat remains intact and that adoption of its next-generation high-NA EUV system could accelerate in the second half of FY26. The stock also gained from optimism that U.S. and Nvidia equity investments in Intel would bolster Intel's balance sheet and sustain capex demand for ASML's tools. We added to the position on weakness in August and have since trimmed some profits after a 40%+ rally. We retain a positive long-term view, with scope for earnings upgrades despite more optimism now reflected in the valuation. BSD Analysis: ASML remains the single most important company in global semiconductor manufacturing, with EUV and High-NA EUV lithography enabling every leading-edge node. Demand visibility extends years, driven by hyperscalers, AI accelerators, and custom silicon programs. Margins remain structurally high due to technology monopoly and pricing power. Geopolitics and export controls add noise, but do little to undermine ASML's long-term position. With unmatched competitive advantage and decades of secular tailwinds, ASML remains a premier global compounder.” | BULL | Q3 2025 Sep 30, 2025 | View Pitch |
“ASML was a contributor during the quarter. The Netherlands-headquartered semiconductor equipment company's stock price rose as it reported strong orders and reiterated robust multi-year demand for its EUV and DUV systems. Management highlighted its unique technology leadership, constrained supply and the critical role of ASML tools in enabling advanced chip production. The managers believe ASML is a key beneficiary of long-term trends in semiconductor complexity and capacity expansion. BSD Analysis: ASML effectively operates as a near-monopoly in leading-edge lithography, capturing outsized economic rents as chipmakers invest heavily in advanced nodes. Its order book and visibility are exceptional, underpinned by structural demand from AI, high-performance computing and automotive semiconductors. While export controls and cyclicality can create volatility in quarterly results, the long-term trajectory of wafer complexity and capital intensity supports durable growth. Valuation is demanding, but justified by the company's technological moat, margin profile and strategic importance in the global supply chain.” | BULL | Q2 2025 Jun 30, 2025 | View Pitch | |
Baillie Gifford -International Growth Thomas Coutts / Brian Lum / Julia Angeles / Lawrence Burns / Robert Wilson | “ASML's recent stock weakness is viewed as cyclical noise inherent to the volatile semiconductor sector rather than a fundamental issue. The manager maintains high confidence in the company's long-term compounding growth trajectory.” | BULL | Q1 2025 Apr 1, 2025 | View Pitch |
Mar Vista Global Equity Fund Silas Myers and Brian Massey | “Mar Vista established a new position in ASML following market weakness over temporary 2025 guidance cuts. ASML holds a virtual monopoly in EUV lithography equipment essential for advanced AI semiconductor manufacturing.” | BULL | Q4 2024 Dec 31, 2024 | View Pitch |
Each excerpt above is the manager's commentary on this ticker specifically. The full letter has the rest of their portfolio thinking, risk discussion, and broader institutional context.
