Quick Silver: EU Semis - Finally Seeing Green

Research evidence excerpt

Quick Silver: EU Semis - Finally Seeing Green

NBC report was an important data point. Comments from OpenAI’s CFO that ARR added during July

exceeded that generated across the whole of the second quarter suggest a meaningful re-acceleration in AI demand, challenging

the increasingly popular narrative around token demand peaking, pricing pressure and intensifying competition from open-source

models. Perhaps most importantly, today’s price action reminds investors how disconnected fundamentals and share prices have

become over recent weeks. A number of companies have delivered objectively strong results, including ASML, ASM

International, BESI, VAT Group and Nokia, yet were met with disappointing share price reactions as positioning overwhelmed

fundamentals.

As that technical pressure begins to ease, I believe several names now offer particularly attractive opportunities for investors

looking to rebuild exposure.

• STM (N) has become a very interesting idea following the move down. The stock is now trading on roughly 14x 2028

earnings vs the mid-20s multiple many investors were comfortable underwriting only a few weeks ago. While earnings clearly

disappointed relative to elevated expectations, the earnings power and structural AI opportunity, particularly around AI

infrastructure and satellites, remain largely unchanged. As investors begin to refocus on 2027 and 2028 rather than quarterly

execution, I believe the risk-reward has become increasingly compelling. Sandeep believes that “the disappointment is

considerable and thus the stock is likely to go sideways for some time” but he made no significant changes to numbers post

print (see his full take HERE).

• Nokia (OW) also stands out following what I believe was an exceptionally strong set of results.