Emerald Wealth Partners, an independent asset and wealth management firm based in Zurich, released its Q2 2026 investor letter for the “Focused Equity Strategy.” A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The Strategy reported a 0.8% gross return for the second quarter of 2026. Equity markets rallied after the first quarter’s Iran shock faded and oil prices reversed their spike, but the advance remained narrow and concentrated in cyclical semiconductor and memory stocks benefiting from supply constraints. The letter warned that investors were treating peak-cycle earnings as durable, while FOMO, IPO demand, and a US cyclically adjusted P/E ratio near 40 pointed to late-cycle market behavior. Long-term fundamentals are currently undervalued by the market, leading to underperformance in the strategy, notably due to the portfolio’s avoidance of low-quality momentum-driven semiconductor stocks, which boosted the benchmark this quarter. It remains focused on enterprise infrastructure, digital platforms, custom silicon, and networking businesses that hold customer relationships, workflow data, distribution, and efficiency advantages, which could allow them to monetize AI rather than be displaced by it. Please review the Strategy’s top five holdings for its key selections.
In its second-quarter 2026 investor letter, Emerald Wealth Partners Focused Equity Strategy highlighted ASML Holding N.V. (NASDAQ:ASML). ASML Holding N.V. (NASDAQ:ASML), a lithography solutions provider for the development, production, marketing, sales, upgrading, and servicing of advanced semiconductor equipment systems, contributed 156 bps to the strategy’s performance during the quarter. On August 4, 2026, ASML Holding N.V. (NASDAQ:ASML) closed at $1,711.89 per share. One-month return of ASML Holding N.V. (NASDAQ:ASML) was -3.21% and its shares gained 147.76% over the past 52 weeks. ASML Holding N.V. (NASDAQ:ASML) has a market capitalization of $648.21 billion.
Emerald Wealth Partners Focused Equity Strategy stated the following regarding ASML Holding N.V. (NASDAQ:ASML) in its Q2 2026 investor letter:
“ASML Holding N.V. (NASDAQ:ASML) rose 51.0%, adding 156 bps benefitting from the euphoria surrounding the semiconductor sector. Its monopoly in advanced lithography remains one of the most durable competitive positions we own. Each new generation of its machines allows chipmakers to pack more transistors into less silicon. This steady improvement in efficiency — better performance per watt, easier thermal management, a lower cost per unit of compute — is what underpins further advances in AI, and every other application where efficient chips matter.”
ASML Holding N.V. (NASDAQ:ASML) is on our list of the 40 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 133 hedge fund portfolios held ASML Holding N.V. (NASDAQ:ASML) at the end of the first quarter which was 101 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the risk and potential of ASML Holding N.V. (NASDAQ:ASML) as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than ASML Holding N.V. (NASDAQ:ASML) and that has 10,000% upside potential, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.
In another article, we covered ASML Holding N.V. (NASDAQ:ASML) and shared the list of best stocks to buy for high returns. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q2 2026 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
