Besi share slumped sharply after a major intervention by Morgan Stanley

The BE Semiconductor Industries (Besi) share will take a big hit on the Amsterdam stock exchange on Tuesday. While the AEX is slightly higher, the Dutch chip machine maker is one of the biggest losers. The reason for this is a significant price target reduction by Morgan Stanley.

Strikingly enough, peer ASML manages to shake off the sales pressure. There, positive company news ensures sufficient optimism among investors.

The Besi share was about 4.5 percent lower on Tuesday afternoon. This means that the company dangles at the bottom of the AEX, which at the same time was about 0.4 percent higher.

The price decline follows a new report by Morgan Stanley. The US investment bank lowered the price target for Besi by 40 euros to 220 euros. Trader Bert van der Pol of Today's Group pointed to the price target reduction as the reason for the strong selling pressure.

ASMI is also having a hard time on Tuesday. The share lost about 2.9 percent in the afternoon. This means that two of the three major Dutch chip stocks are firmly under pressure.

Besi makes machines for the assembly of chips. The company thus plays an important role in the semiconductor sector. Investors therefore closely follow the expectations of large investment banks. A lower price target can quickly worsen sentiment around a stock, as can be seen on Tuesday.

At ASML, the picture looks remarkably different. Morgan Stanley also lowered the price target for this chip giant. That went from 1,930 euros to 1,700 euros. Nevertheless, the share rose by about 1.3 percent on Tuesday afternoon.

ASML is supported by new collaborations with TSMC, Samsung and Intel. Analysts from Bank of America and UBS responded positively to those announcements. The good company news thus seems to outweigh Morgan Stanley's lower price target.

In addition, ASML's involvement with the French AI company Mistral plays a role. Mistral announced that it had raised 3 billion euros in new capital at a valuation of more than 21 billion euros. ASML led an earlier financing round and acquired a stake of about 11 percent.

The contrast on the Amsterdam stock exchange is therefore great. Where ASML manages to shake off the price target reduction thanks to positive news, Besi is getting a big hit from investors.