AI | Semiconductors | Commodities, Mint Finance

Raghav Vashisht

AI | Semiconductors | Commodities

Deep Fundamental Analysis

Mint Finance

Mint Finance's investment research blends deep fundamental analysis with technical & quant insights. Investment strategies straddle across multiple asset classes with risk management embedded into every trade to deliver an outsized reward-to-risk ratio.

Mint Finance's research is centered around three key themes. First, energy transition and climate change. Second, artificial intelligence. Third, shifting world order with its impact across politics and monetary economics.

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

<ul>
<li>Lumentum converted AI-optics demand into 50.4% gross margin and positive cash flow; Coherent and Fabrinet grew quickly, but their capacity and inventory builds consumed it.</li>
<li>CPO demand has not moved out, but 2026 revenue sits in pumps, DCI, 200G EML, 1.6T and OCS rather than scaled co-packaged engines.</li>
<li>The optical build is already generating revenue before scaled CPO, but the economics are splitting sharply across the laser, integrated-system and manufacturing layers.</li>
</ul>


Lumentum converted AI-optics demand into 50.4% gross margin and positive cash flow; Coherent and Fabrinet grew quickly, but their capacity and inventory builds consumed it.
CPO demand has not moved out, but 2026 revenue sits in pumps, DCI, 200G EML, 1.6T and OCS rather than scaled co-packaged engines.
The optical build is already generating revenue before scaled CPO, but the economics are splitting sharply across the laser, integrated-system and manufacturing layers.


Before CPO: Optics Earnings Are Already Separating Scarcity From Volume

Independent Investment Research, The IDEA!

The IDEA!

Independent Investment Research

The Idea-Driven Equities Analyses company (the IDEA!) is an employee-owned boutique providing independent investment research and financial consultancy services with a clear focus on the Benelux countries. The company was founded in the summer of 2007 by Henk Slotboom and Maarten Verbeek, both with more than 35 years of professional experience in the financial sector. The IDEA! differentiates itself by focusing on adding value through self-initiated in-depth, idea-driven investment research, as well as by bespoke research assignments for institutional investors, hedge funds and private equity. In addition, we provide market intelligence, strategic research and – together with our business partners – consultancy services to businesses. In case you are interested in receiving more information, a sample of our products or an introductory meeting, please send a message to info@theidea.nl.

Equity Bottom-Up

<ul><li>In this edition: • Ahold Delhaize | to close six e-commerce fulfillment centers by the end of 1Q26 • ASML Holding | Chinese rumoured to have copied an EUV machine • SBM Offshore | extends contracts for 2 FPSOs and completes sale FPSO Aseng • Sif Holding | affirms 2025-2026 outlook • Dutch politics | coalition talks: significant policy divide on fiscal discipline</li></ul>

In this edition: • Ahold Delhaize | to close six e-commerce fulfillment centers by the end of 1Q26 • ASML Holding | Chinese rumoured to have copied an EUV machine • SBM Offshore | extends contracts for 2 FPSOs and completes sale FPSO Aseng • Sif Holding | affirms 2025-2026 outlook • Dutch politics | coalition talks: significant policy divide on fiscal discipline

ASML Holding NV - What's News in Amsterdam

<ul>
<li>Three distinct ways to play AI bandwidth. LAZR buys upstream components, LYTE buys transceiver assembly, and EUV buys the semiconductor capital stack.</li>
<li>Our holdings analysis shows LAZR’s equal-weighted and current-weighted returns aligned efficiently, while LYTE’s complex leverage and cash positioning blunted its upside.</li>
<li>EUV provides diversified capex exposure, sacrificing pure-play optics for a highly balanced bet on the broader semiconductor manufacturing system required for AI scale-out.</li>
</ul>


Three distinct ways to play AI bandwidth. LAZR buys upstream components, LYTE buys transceiver assembly, and EUV buys the semiconductor capital stack.
Our holdings analysis shows LAZR’s equal-weighted and current-weighted returns aligned efficiently, while LYTE’s complex leverage and cash positioning blunted its upside.
EUV provides diversified capex exposure, sacrificing pure-play optics for a highly balanced bet on the broader semiconductor manufacturing system required for AI scale-out.


Where Is the True Value in the Optics Trade? A Comparison of 3 ETFs

Technical Analyst, Vermilion Research

Joe Jasper

Technical Analyst

Technical and Quantitative Research

Vermilion Research

Vermilion’s objective is to deliver timely, actionable, and unique technical research to professional investors through the application of our various technical indicators.

Our research strategists seek to highlight securities which we believe are at major inflection points, based on our various technical and quantitative indicators, and offer asymmetric risk/return profiles. Our unique research methodology, centered on relative strength, enables our strategists to deliver superior investment recommendations.

Our process begins by organizing the universe of actively traded stocks into discrete sectors, then into industry groups. We then apply our technical and quantitative tools to identify developing price trends. Once attractive trends are identified within a selected sector or group, we screen for individual stocks which we believe offer the best risk/reward profile. We provide a historical perspective that often reveals, through our long-term charts, how price patterns often repeat themselves over time.

Technical Analysis

<ul>
<li>Our global intermediate-term outlook remains bullish on MSCI ACWI (in place since our 5/14/25 Compass). We also remain near-term bullish on MSCI ACWI since our 4/23/26 Int’l Compass.</li>
<li>Support at $152.35-$153.70 on ACWI-US held, and we discussed last week- as long as this support holds, the multi-month consolidation appears healthy as ACWI-US works off excesses from April-May gains.</li>
<li>ACWI-US now displays a clean 2-month base breakout, MSCI EM (EEM-US) is reversing its 1+ month downtrend, and MSCI EAFE (EFA-US) displays a 5.5+ month base breakout.</li>
</ul>


Our global intermediate-term outlook remains bullish on MSCI ACWI (in place since our 5/14/25 Compass). We also remain near-term bullish on MSCI ACWI since our 4/23/26 Int’l Compass.
Support at $152.35-$153.70 on ACWI-US held, and we discussed last week- as long as this support holds, the multi-month consolidation appears healthy as ACWI-US works off excesses from April-May gains.
ACWI-US now displays a clean 2-month base breakout, MSCI EM (EEM-US) is reversing its 1+ month downtrend, and MSCI EAFE (EFA-US) displays a 5.5+ month base breakout.


Time to Buy Global Tech Stocks (Lenovo, SAP); Metals/Miners Also in Focus; MSCI ACWI Clean Breakout

Independent research on the U.S. markets, Baptista Research

Baptista Research

Independent research on the U.S. markets

Baptista Research is an independent financial research house focused on the U.S. markets. We provide equity research as well as credit research reports on the top-listed U.S. companies with most of our focus on technology, consumer goods and services, automobiles, industrials, oil and gas, pharma, and healthcare. Our research has served more than 3000 institutional investors including mutual funds, hedge funds, banks, family offices, and various buy-side firms. We operate a research subscription service where institutions, as well as retail investors, can have priority access to all our research. We also have a wide distribution of our research reports across some of the top global financial platforms. Apart from equity research and credit research, we also provide advisory services with respect to mergers & acquisitions (M&A), private equity/ venture capital fundraising, valuation reports, and investment management services for corporates.
Baptista Research is owned and managed by Ishan Majumdar, an ex-Venture Capitalist/ Investment Banker, a Chartered Accountant, and a Masters’ degree holder in Management from HEC Paris. Ishan has nearly a decade of experience in Mergers and Acquisitions, Leveraged Buyouts (LBOs), Venture Capital Investing, Corporate Strategy, and Valuation in front-office roles at the likes of BNP Paribas CIB, Credit Agricole CIB, Groupe Danone, and TIW Private Equity. He has worked on and closed multiple acquisition deals, leveraged buyouts, and start-up investment transactions.

<ul><li>ASML Holding N.V.'s 2025 third-quarter financial results reveal both strengths and challenges, reflecting the company's complex position within the semiconductor supply chain.</li><li>For Q3 2025, ASML reported total net sales of EUR 7.5 billion, aligning with their guidance.</li><li>Net system sales were EUR 5.6 billion, with EUV system sales, including High-NA systems, contributing EUR 2.1 billion and non-EUV system sales contributing EUR 3.4 billion.</li></ul>

ASML Holding N.V.'s 2025 third-quarter financial results reveal both strengths and challenges, reflecting the company's complex position within the semiconductor supply chain.For Q3 2025, ASML reported total net sales of EUR 7.5 billion, aligning with their guidance.Net system sales were EUR 5.6 billion, with EUV system sales, including High-NA systems, contributing EUR 2.1 billion and non-EUV system sales contributing EUR 3.4 billion.

ASML: Is The Growth In EUV & High-NA Lithography Here To Stay Amidst The AI Revolution?

Netherlands

ASML Holding N.V. develops, produces, and markets semiconductor manufacturing equipment, specifically machines for the production of chips through lithography. The Company services clients world wide.

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ASML Holding NV (ASML NA)

Before CPO: Optics Earnings Are Already Separating Scarcity From Volume

Lumentum is converting constrained laser supply into margin and cash, while Coherent and Fabrinet are still funding the capacity, inventory and...

Mint Finance

ASML Holding NV - What's News in Amsterdam

In this edition: • Ahold Delhaize | to close six e-commerce fulfillment centers by the end of 1Q26 • ASML Holding | Chinese rumoured to have...

The IDEA!

Where Is the True Value in the Optics Trade? A Comparison of 3 ETFs

Three new ETFs target the AI bandwidth bottleneck, but perform very differently. We analyse LAZR, LYTE & EUV to show why upstream components easily...

Mint Finance

Time to Buy Global Tech Stocks (Lenovo, SAP); Metals/Miners Also in Focus; MSCI ACWI Clean Breakout

Time to Buy Global Technology Stocks (Lite-On, Lenovo, $SAP, etc.); Metals/Miners Also in Focus $AYA $GDX $XME; MSCI $ACWI Clean Breakout; Bullish...

Vermilion Research

ASML: Is The Growth In EUV & High-NA Lithography Here To Stay Amidst The AI Revolution?

ASML Holding N.V.'s 2025 third-quarter financial results reveal both strengths and challenges, reflecting the company's complex position within...

Baptista Research

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