VAT 2Q26 Preview: Orders should be very strong on the back of a strengthening up-cycle

Research evidence excerpt

VAT 2Q26 Preview: Orders should be very strong on the back of a strengthening up-cycle

J P M O R G A N Europe Equity Research

07 July 2026

VAT Overweight

VACN.S, VACN SW

2Q26 Preview: Orders should be very strong on the Price (06 Jul 26):CHF692.00

back of a strengthening up-cycle ▲Price Target (Dec-27):CHF730.00 Prior (Dec-27):CHF620.00

• Demand is strong, orders should be very strong. Focus will be on VAT’s

ability to ramp up capacity. Demand for VAT’s valves should be very strong European Tech Hardware &

Payments in the current capacity constrained environment. We expect a very strong order

intake and our order estimates are for CHF 410m in order for 2Q26. JPMorgan Sandeep Deshpande AC

has raised our WFE estimates to $159bn/$205bn/$237bn in CY26/27/28. VAT (44-20) 7134-5276

sandeep.s.deshpande@jpmorgan.com

should outperform the WFE market growth due to the increasing vacuum

intensity required for front end leading edge processes. However, given the Craig A McDowell

(44-20) 7742-4576

huge magnitude of the likely increases in the WFE market, VAT needs to scale craig.mcdowell@jpmorgan.com

its output. The company has indicated that they can run at ~20-30% QoQ

Anthony Girard

growth driven by an increase in resources (+150 hires since mid-January across (44-20) 3493-6469

Switzerland/Malaysia) and incremental capacity already invested and ready to anthony.girard@jpmorgan.com

activate. Additionally, inventory at leading edge front-end semi-cap indicates J.P. Morgan Securities plc

inventories are falling (see Figure 1 below). With this high demand, the co. has

Specialist Sales contact details: indicated lead times are extending and customers are reserving capacity. So we

are likely to observe very strong order intake and a higher book-to-bill ratio.