ASML Stock Recent News

ASML trades at a discount, but cautious guidance, a weak 2026 outlook and trade headwinds weigh on the stock's appeal.

Key Points in This Article: Monopolies, though often regulated, can arise naturally through innovation and market dominance, offering unique investment opportunities.

Artificial intelligence (AI) continues to be a driving theme in this market. One of the smartest ways to continue playing this trend could be with semiconductor-related stocks that are poised to continue to benefit from the ongoing data center buildout.

ASML rises 1.4% at its high after Alert

August generally isn't considered the best time to buy stocks. It lands between May, when many investors "sell in May and go away," and September, which has historically had a pattern of being the worst month of the year for stocks.

Many investors today are focused on companies participating in the artificial intelligence (AI) trend, and among the more popular ones are those in and connected to the chip industry. These are the businesses that are making money from AI right now as AI hyperscalers and cloud infrastructure providers are rapidly building out their capacity to support AI training and inference.

EUV is indispensable to produce semiconductor chips that is smaller than 5nm, as it is more cost-efficient and higher yield. Recent earnings call signaled potentially a no growth 2026 due to macroeconomic headwinds, which are getting clarified. More and more new fabs are getting constructed in the world by major semiconductor manufacturers such as TSMC, which will require EUV machines.

A handful of companies have technological monopolies on some of the world's most important devices. Investing in these companies is a genius move, as they are vital.

Artificial intelligence (AI) remains a hot area to invest in, as seen in Nvidia's share price, which is up over 30% this year through Aug. 6. Two AI businesses to consider are ASML Holding (ASML 1.33%) and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD 0.17%), since they provide key hardware to the industry.

The word "monopoly" has a negative reputation in the investment and economic communities, as it is often linked to abusive pricing and unfair advantages that many other businesses and investors might not face. However, monopolies (or near-monopolies for that matter) can also mean outsized returns for investors who can spot them.