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Key Takeaways KLA's Q1 earnings are expected to rise 34.09%, with revenues projected to grow 26.09% year over year.AI investments, rising HBM adoption and advanced packaging demand are expected to drive KLA's Q1 growth.KLA's 21.6% YTD stock gain beats the sector, but margin pressure remains a concern.
KLA (KLAC - Free Report) is set to report its first-quarter fiscal 2027 results on Oct. 28.

For the to-be-reported quarter, KLAC expects revenues of $4 billion, plus/minus $200 million. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenues is pegged at $4.05 billion, indicating an increase of 26.09% from the year-ago quarter’s reported figure.

For the fiscal first quarter, non-GAAP diluted earnings are projected at $1.16 per share (plus or minus 10 cents). The consensus mark for earnings is pegged at $1.18 per share, unchanged over the past 30 days, indicating year-over-year growth of 34.09%.

Consensus Estimate Trend
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

KLAC’s earnings have surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in all the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 2.75%.

Let us see how things have shaped up for the upcoming announcement.

Key Factors to Note Ahead of KLAC’s Q1 ResultsKLA's first-quarter fiscal 2027 results are expected to have benefited from accelerating investments in artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, particularly advanced semiconductor manufacturing. Increasing demand for AI processors, high-performance computing chips and sophisticated semiconductor designs is driving the adoption of KLA’s inspection and metrology solutions. The transition toward 2-nanometer manufacturing and gate-all-around transistor architectures is increasing process control requirements. The company's Semiconductor Process Control business is expected to have benefited from these trends in the to-be-reported quarter.

Increased investments in DRAM manufacturing, particularly high-bandwidth memory (HBM) used in AI accelerators and data centers, are expected to have driven top-line growth in the fiscal first quarter. Growing HBM adoption, increasing extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography applications and rising memory-device complexity are creating additional demand for process control equipment. HBM’s larger die sizes, stringent performance specifications and complex stacking architectures require more sophisticated inspection and metrology capabilities. These factors bode well for KLAC.

Moreover, fiscal first-quarter results are expected to have benefited from robust demand for advanced packaging solutions, supported by growing adoption of heterogeneous integration, chiplets and high-performance computing architectures. Increasing packaging complexity is encouraging semiconductor manufacturers to deploy more advanced inspection and metrology tools to improve yields and manufacturing efficiency. KLA expects its advanced packaging process control systems revenues to reach approximately $1.1 billion in calendar 2026, indicating growth of more than 70% year over year. The company is also witnessing growing adoption of its front-end inspection technologies in advanced packaging manufacturing.

Meanwhile, fiscal first-quarter results are also expected to reflect improving component availability and expanding manufacturing capacity. KLA expects revenues in the second half of calendar 2026 to increase approximately 20% from the first half, reflecting accelerating customer demand and improving supply chain execution. Strong equipment orders and a backlog of approximately $12.57 billion at fiscal 2026-end are providing substantial revenue visibility.

Nevertheless, KLAC management has highlighted that calcium fluoride optical components can have lead times of 18-24 months or longer, potentially limiting production flexibility. Rising memory prices have also pressured gross margins, with the company indicating a negative impact exceeding 100 basis points in recent quarters.

KLAC Shares Outperform Sector & PeersKLA shares have returned 21.6% year to date (YTD), outperforming the broader Zacks Computer and Technology sector’s return of 18%. However, the company has underperformed peers, including Applied Materials (AMAT - Free Report) , Teradyne (TER - Free Report) and Axcelis Technologies (ACLS - Free Report) , YTD. Shares of Applied Materials, Teradyne and Axcelis have returned 46.1%, 58.2% and 30.3%, respectively, over the same timeframe.

KLAC Stock’s Performance
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

The KLAC stock is not so cheap, as suggested by the Value Score of D. In terms of the forward 12-month price-to-earnings (P/E), KLAC is trading at 25.44X, higher than the broader sector and peers like Applied Materials and Axcelis but cheaper than Teradyne. The broader sector is trading at 19.79X while Applied Materials, Axcelis and Teradyne trade at 20.69X, 20.67X and 28.37X, respectively.

KLAC Stock’s Valuation
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

KLA’s Prospects Ride on Strong Advanced Packaging GrowthKLA’s advanced packaging business represents a significant long-term growth opportunity as semiconductor manufacturers increasingly adopt chiplets, heterogeneous integration and advanced packaging architectures. The company expects KLA’s share of the advanced packaging market to increase to approximately 7-8% in 2026 from only a few percentage points in 2023. The increasing application of front-end manufacturing processes in advanced packaging is driving demand for more sophisticated inspection and metrology solutions. Growing adoption of hybrid bonding and high-density interconnect technologies should further expand KLA’s addressable market.

The company is well-positioned to capitalize on increasing wafer fabrication equipment (WFE) spending, supported by AI infrastructure investments, semiconductor capacity expansion and technology transitions. The company raised its calendar 2026 WFE market outlook to the low-$150-billion range, representing mid-20% growth from approximately $120 billion in 2025. KLAC management indicated that industry growth in 2027 could match or exceed 2026 levels, with a scenario approaching $190 billion in WFE spending.

KLA’s growing installed equipment base is expected to support sustained expansion in its services business. The company has established a long-term annual services revenue growth target of 13-15%, supported by increasing equipment installations, maintenance requirements, upgrades and productivity-enhancing solutions. Approximately 80% of services revenues are contract-based, providing recurring revenue visibility. Strong equipment shipments in calendar 2026 and 2027 should expand the installed base, creating additional opportunities for service contracts and customer support.

ConclusionKLA’s strong positioning in the semiconductor process control market, accelerating AI infrastructure investments and robust demand for advanced packaging solutions bode well for its growth prospects. Increasing process control intensity, rising HBM adoption and expanding WFE spending are expected to sustain revenue momentum. A strong backlog and growing services business further strengthen its long-term outlook.

KLA currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), which implies that investors should start accumulating the stock ahead of the fiscal first-quarter earnings results. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

KLA (KLAC - Free Report) has been beaten down lately with too much selling pressure. While the stock has lost 21% over the past four weeks, there is light at the end of the tunnel as it is now in oversold territory and Wall Street analysts expect the company to report better earnings than they predicted earlier.

We use Relative Strength Index (RSI), one of the most commonly used technical indicators, for spotting whether a stock is oversold. This is a momentum oscillator that measures the speed and change of price movements.

RSI oscillates between zero and 100. Usually, a stock is considered oversold when its RSI reading falls below 30.

Technically, every stock oscillates between being overbought and oversold irrespective of the quality of their fundamentals. And the beauty of RSI is that it helps you quickly and easily check if a stock's price is reaching a point of reversal.

So, by this measure, if a stock has gotten too far below its fair value just because of unwarranted selling pressure, investors may start looking for entry opportunities in the stock for benefiting from the inevitable rebound.

However, like every investing tool, RSI has its limitations, and should not be used alone for making an investment decision.

Here's Why KLAC Could Experience a TurnaroundThe RSI reading of 23.92 for KLAC is an indication that the heavy selling could be in the process of exhausting itself, so the stock could bounce back in a quest for reaching the old equilibrium of supply and demand.

This technical indicator is not the only factor that calls for a potential rebound for the stock. There is a fundamental indicator as well. A strong agreement among sell-side analysts covering KLAC in raising earnings estimates for the current year has led to an increase in the consensus EPS estimate by 0.4% over the last 30 days. And an upward trend in earnings estimate revisions usually translates into price appreciation in the near term.

Moreover, KLAC currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), which means it is in the top 20% of more than 4,000 stocks that we rank based on trends in earnings estimate revisions and EPS surprises. This is a more conclusive indication of the stock's potential turnaround in the near term. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks here >>>> .

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC – Get Free Report) is expected to be issuing its Q1 2027 results after the market closes on Wednesday, October 28th. Analysts expect KLA to announce earnings of $1.18 per share and revenue of $4.04 billion for the quarter. KLA has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 1.060-1.260 EPS. Individuals can check the company’s upcoming Q1 2027 earnings overview page for the latest details on the call scheduled for Wednesday, October 28, 2026 at 5:00 PM ET.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 28th. The semiconductor company reported $1.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.05. KLA had a return on equity of 87.66% and a net margin of 35.57%. The company had revenue of $3.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.61 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.94 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect KLA to post $5.43 EPS for the current fiscal year and $6.63 EPS for the next fiscal year.

KLA Stock Down 2.8% Shares of NASDAQ:KLAC opened at $161.74 on Wednesday. KLA has a 52 week low of $107.20 and a 52 week high of $307.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a current ratio of 2.88. The company’s fifty day moving average is $185.35 and its 200-day moving average is $197.25. The company has a market capitalization of $211.07 billion, a PE ratio of 44.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.45.

KLA Increases Dividend The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Monday, August 17th were given a dividend of $0.23 per share. This is an increase from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 17th. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is 25.07%. Insiders Place Their Bets In other news, EVP MaryBeth Wilkinson sold 13,802 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.50, for a total value of $2,698,291.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 22,110 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,322,505. This trade represents a 38.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 4,504 shares of KLA stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.50, for a total value of $880,532.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 7,972 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,558,526. This represents a 36.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 243,339 shares of company stock worth $46,903,454 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 79.39% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth Several equities analysts recently issued reports on KLAC shares. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of KLA in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of KLA in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $270.00 price objective on shares of KLA in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $250.00 price objective on shares of KLA and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of KLA from $200.00 to $238.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Nineteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, KLA currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $221.26.

Read Our Latest Analysis on KLAC

KLA Company Profile (Get Free Report)

KLA Corporation (NASDAQ: KLAC) develops process control, inspection and yield management solutions for the semiconductor and other advanced manufacturing industries. Its technologies help manufacturers identify defects, measure critical dimensions and monitor production processes to improve quality, reliability and manufacturing efficiency.

The company’s product portfolio includes wafer and reticle inspection systems, metrology and measurement tools, defect review and classification systems, and software for analyzing manufacturing data.

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Each week, Benzinga’s Stock Whisper Index uses proprietary data and pattern recognition to highlight five stocks just under the surface that deserve attention.

Investors are constantly on the hunt for undervalued, under-followed and emerging stocks. Retail traders have countless methods at their disposal. Sifting through available information to uncover new opportunities and understand why certain stocks matter can be challenging.

Here’s a look at the Benzinga Stock Whisper Index for the week ending Oct. 16:

Prologis Inc (NYSE:PLD): The industrial real estate investment trust saw strong interest last week, which comes after the company reported third quarter financials. The company beat analyst estimates for earnings per share and missed estimates for sales. The stock fell on the results and on the company narrowing its earnings per share guidance. Prologis’ CEO Daniel Letter said the company signed leases covering 60 million square feet during the quarter, totaling around $2.3 billion in transactions. Shareholders approved the company’s deal to acquire SEGRO, which is expected to strengthen its presence in Europe. BTIG maintained a Buy rating with a $170 price target. The analyst sees the recent post-earnings pullback as a "compelling entry point."

KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC): The semiconductor stock saw strong interest from readers during the week, which comes ahead of first-quarter financial results set for Oct. 28. The company’s latest financials have been mixed. The company has missed analyst estimates for earnings per share in eight of the last 10 quarters, including eight straight misses before the beat in the fourth quarter. The company has beaten analyst estimates for revenue in more than 10 straight quarters. With the mixed earnings, investors may be waiting to see how first-quarter results turn out. The stock remains one to watch.

Philip Morris International (NYSE:PM): Investors showed strong interest in the international tobacco company during the week. The company has gained positive momentum on a dividend increase and reports that regulators will approve more vapes and pouches in the United States. The company is set to report third-quarter financial results on Oct. 21. The company has beaten analyst estimates for earnings per share in 10 straight quarters and for revenue in eight of the last 10 quarters, including two straight quarters.

IES Holdings (NASDAQ: IESC): The data center-related company saw strong reader interest last week, continuing its strong momentum this year. With shares down 9% last week, the pullback could be a good buying opportunity for investors who see the company as a winner in the data center buildout.

Marathon Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:MPC): The oil company’s shares continued to gain last week, adding to a 190%+ surge year-to-date. The higher share price and likely increased attention from Benzinga readers were analyst actions. Analysts issued several price target increases. These weren’t small price target increases, but rather the target going up over $100 from analysts at Citigroup, Wells Fargo, Barclays and Evercore ISI. Marathon Petroleum remains one of the hottest oil stocks this year and a name to watch.

Stay tuned for next week’s report, and follow Benzinga Pro for all the latest headlines and top market-moving stories here.

Read the latest Stock Whisper Index reports here:

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Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC – Free Report) by 239.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,614,990 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 3,959,927 shares during the quarter. KLA accounts for about 0.8% of Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest position. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned approximately 0.43% of KLA worth $1,094,530,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. WealthPLAN Partners LLC lifted its holdings in KLA by 16.3% during the third quarter. WealthPLAN Partners LLC now owns 2,578 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $503,000 after acquiring an additional 361 shares in the last quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd increased its holdings in shares of KLA by 771.7% in the third quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 1,848 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $360,000 after acquiring an additional 1,636 shares in the last quarter. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of KLA by 18.4% in the third quarter. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC now owns 11,243 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,192,000 after acquiring an additional 1,750 shares in the last quarter. Nvwm LLC increased its holdings in shares of KLA by 0.9% in the third quarter. Nvwm LLC now owns 12,716 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,479,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HBW Advisory Services LLC raised its position in shares of KLA by 74.7% during the third quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,127 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $610,000 after purchasing an additional 1,337 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades KLAC has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Bank of America lifted their price objective on KLA from $210.00 to $317.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective (up from $200.00) on shares of KLA in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $325.00 target price on shares of KLA in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Susquehanna set a $215.00 target price on shares of KLA and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $230.00 price target on shares of KLA in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, KLA presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $221.26.

Read Our Latest Research Report on KLAC Insider Transactions at KLA In other news, CEO Richard Wallace sold 87,568 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.95, for a total transaction of $17,421,653.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 778,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $154,970,908.80. This trade represents a 10.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Brian Lorig sold 59,586 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.13, for a total transaction of $12,401,634.18. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 77,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,167,746.53. This represents a 43.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 243,339 shares of company stock worth $46,903,454. Insiders own 79.39% of the company’s stock.

KLA Stock Performance KLAC opened at $174.46 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $187.30 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $196.86. KLA Corporation has a 1 year low of $107.20 and a 1 year high of $307.37. The company has a market capitalization of $227.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 2.88 and a quick ratio of 2.03.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The semiconductor company reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $3.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.61 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 87.66% and a net margin of 35.57%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.94 earnings per share. KLA has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 1.060-1.260 EPS. Equities analysts expect that KLA Corporation will post 5.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KLA Increases Dividend The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 17th were given a dividend of $0.23 per share. This is an increase from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 17th. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. KLA’s payout ratio is currently 25.07%.

KLA Company Profile (Free Report)

KLA Corporation (NASDAQ: KLAC) develops process-control and yield-management solutions used by semiconductor and electronics manufacturers. Its systems help customers detect defects, measure and analyze materials and structures, and monitor manufacturing processes throughout the production of integrated circuits and other advanced electronic components.

The company’s product portfolio includes inspection and metrology systems, wafer and reticle inspection equipment, process-control software, data analytics tools, and related services.

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First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. lifted its holdings in shares of KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC – Free Report) by 234.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 24,573 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 17,235 shares during the period. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in KLA were worth $4,790,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC increased its position in shares of KLA by 36.4% in the first quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 60 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $88,000 after acquiring an additional 16 shares in the last quarter. Allied Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of KLA in the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. McIlrath & Eck LLC lifted its holdings in shares of KLA by 6.8% during the 1st quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 94 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $139,000 after acquiring an additional 6 shares in the last quarter. Roble Belko & Company Inc lifted its holdings in shares of KLA by 2,275.0% during the 2nd quarter. Roble Belko & Company Inc now owns 95 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atomic Invest LLC boosted its position in KLA by 781.8% during the 2nd quarter. Atomic Invest LLC now owns 97 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting KLA Here are the key news stories impacting KLA this week:

Positive Sentiment: Wall Street’s consensus price target implies approximately 27.9% potential upside. Analysts’ upward earnings-estimate revisions could provide near-term support, although price targets are not always reliable indicators. Wall Street Analysts See a 27.86% Upside in KLA Positive Sentiment: KLA’s underlying business remains strong: its latest reported quarter exceeded revenue and EPS expectations, with revenue up 15.2% year over year. The company also issued fiscal first-quarter 2027 EPS guidance of $1.06 to $1.26, supporting the longer-term growth case. Positive Sentiment: Institutional ownership data showed more investors adding than reducing positions in the latest quarter, including sizable additions by Invesco, Norges Bank, Capital International Investors and JPMorgan. Why KLA stock fell 4.6% today Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley reduced its KLA price target to $227. While the revised target remains above the reported share price, the cut signals more cautious expectations. Morgan Stanley cuts target for KLA Corporation stock to USD 227 Negative Sentiment: Investors are questioning whether KLA still offers attractive value after its five-year rally. Its elevated valuation leaves the stock vulnerable to profit-taking if AI infrastructure spending or semiconductor demand slows. KLA Stock Looks Fully Valued After Its 5 Year Run Negative Sentiment: Applied Materials, Lam Research and ASML also weakened as investors reassessed AI-related chip spending, financing conditions and potential competitive pressure from China’s memory-chip industry. Semiconductor Equipment Stocks Slide Negative Sentiment: Recent insider-transaction data shows selling by KLA executives, including the CEO and CFO, with no reported open-market purchases in the past six months. This may reinforce concerns that the stock has become fully valued, though insider sales can reflect compensation and diversification. Wall Street Analyst Weigh In A number of equities analysts have commented on KLAC shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $195.00 price objective (down from $220.00) on shares of KLA in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of KLA in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of KLA in a research note on Wednesday, June 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $325.00 target price on shares of KLA in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $260.00 price target (up from $200.00) on shares of KLA in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $221.26. Check Out Our Latest Report on KLA

KLA Stock Performance Shares of KLAC opened at $178.81 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $187.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $196.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $233.35 billion, a PE ratio of 48.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a quick ratio of 2.03, a current ratio of 2.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. KLA Corporation has a 52-week low of $105.39 and a 52-week high of $307.37.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The semiconductor company reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.05. KLA had a net margin of 35.57% and a return on equity of 87.66%. The firm had revenue of $3.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.61 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.94 earnings per share. KLA’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. KLA has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 1.060-1.260 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that KLA Corporation will post 5.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Increases Dividend The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 17th were paid a dividend of $0.23 per share. This is a boost from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 17th. KLA’s payout ratio is currently 25.07%.

Insider Activity In other KLA news, CEO Richard Wallace sold 87,568 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.95, for a total value of $17,421,653.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 778,944 shares in the company, valued at $154,970,908.80. This trade represents a 10.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP MaryBeth Wilkinson sold 13,802 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.50, for a total transaction of $2,698,291.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 22,110 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,322,505. This trade represents a 38.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have sold 243,339 shares of company stock valued at $46,903,454. Corporate insiders own 79.39% of the company’s stock.

KLA Company Profile (Free Report)

KLA Corporation (NASDAQ: KLAC) develops process-control and yield-management solutions used by semiconductor and electronics manufacturers. Its systems help customers detect defects, measure and analyze materials and structures, and monitor manufacturing processes throughout the production of integrated circuits and other advanced electronic components.

The company’s product portfolio includes inspection and metrology systems, wafer and reticle inspection equipment, process-control software, data analytics tools, and related services.

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Shares of KLA (KLAC - Free Report) have gained 9.5% over the past four weeks to close the last trading session at $184, but there could still be a solid upside left in the stock if short-term price targets of Wall Street analysts are any indication. Going by the price targets, the mean estimate of $235.26 indicates a potential upside of 27.9%.

The mean estimate comprises 27 short-term price targets with a standard deviation of $38.15. While the lowest estimate of $170.00 indicates a 7.6% decline from the current price level, the most optimistic analyst expects the stock to surge 76.6% to reach $325.00. It's very important to note the standard deviation here, as it helps understand the variability of the estimates. The smaller the standard deviation, the greater the agreement among analysts.

While the consensus price target is highly sought after by investors, the ability and unbiasedness of analysts in setting price targets have long been questionable. And investors making investment decisions solely based on this tool would arguably do themselves a disservice.

However, an impressive consensus price target is not the only factor that indicates a potential upside in KLAC. This view is strengthened by the agreement among analysts that the company will report better earnings than what they estimated earlier. Though a positive trend in earnings estimate revisions doesn't give any idea as to how much the stock could surge, it has proven effective in predicting an upside.

Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Here's What You May Not Know About Analysts' Price TargetsAccording to researchers at several universities across the globe, a price target is one of many pieces of information about a stock that misleads investors far more often than it guides. In fact, empirical research shows that price targets set by several analysts, irrespective of the extent of agreement, rarely indicate where the price of a stock could actually be heading.

While Wall Street analysts have deep knowledge of a company's fundamentals and the sensitivity of its business to economic and industry issues, many of them tend to set overly optimistic price targets. Are you wondering why?

They usually do that to drum up interest in shares of companies that their firms either have existing business relationships with or are looking to be associated with. In other words, business incentives of firms covering a stock often result in inflated price targets set by analysts.

However, a tight clustering of price targets, which is represented by a low standard deviation, indicates that analysts have a high degree of agreement about the direction and magnitude of a stock's price movement. While that doesn't necessarily mean the stock will hit the average price target, it could be a good starting point for further research aimed at identifying the potential fundamental driving forces.

That said, while investors should not entirely ignore price targets, making an investment decision solely based on them could lead to disappointing ROI. So, price targets should always be treated with a high degree of skepticism.

Why KLAC Could Witness a Solid UpsideAnalysts' growing optimism over the company's earnings prospects, as indicated by strong agreement among them in revising EPS estimates higher, could be a legitimate reason to expect an upside in the stock. That's because empirical research shows a strong correlation between trends in earnings estimate revisions and near-term stock price movements.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year has increased 0.4% over the past month, as one estimate has gone higher compared to no negative revision.

Moreover, KLAC currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), which means it is in the top 20% of more than 4,000 stocks that we rank based on four factors related to earnings estimates. Given an impressive externally-audited track record, this is a more conclusive indication of the stock's potential upside in the near term. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks here >>>> .

Therefore, while the consensus price target may not be a reliable indicator of how much KLAC could gain, the direction of price movement it implies does appear to be a good guide.

KLA (KLAC - Free Report) ended the recent trading session at $190.12, demonstrating a -2.79% change from the preceding day's closing price. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.06%. Meanwhile, the Dow experienced a rise of 0.38%, and the technology-dominated Nasdaq saw a decrease of 0.44%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the maker of equipment for manufacturing semiconductors had gained 8.27% outpaced the Computer and Technology sector's gain of 4.85% and the S&P 500's gain of 2.36%.

Analysts and investors alike will be keeping a close eye on the performance of KLA in its upcoming earnings disclosure. The company is forecasted to report an EPS of $1.18, showcasing a 34.09% upward movement from the corresponding quarter of the prior year. In the meantime, our current consensus estimate forecasts the revenue to be $4.05 billion, indicating a 26.09% growth compared to the corresponding quarter of the prior year.

For the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $5.44 per share and a revenue of $17.88 billion, representing changes of +44.68% and +31.67%, respectively, from the prior year.

It's also important for investors to be aware of any recent modifications to analyst estimates for KLA. These latest adjustments often mirror the shifting dynamics of short-term business patterns. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the business outlook.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-term stock moves. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, there's been a 0.43% rise in the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. KLA is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

In the context of valuation, KLA is at present trading with a Forward P/E ratio of 35.96. This valuation marks a premium compared to its industry average Forward P/E of 20.44.

Also, we should mention that KLAC has a PEG ratio of 1.73. Comparable to the widely accepted P/E ratio, the PEG ratio also accounts for the company's projected earnings growth. As the market closed yesterday, the Electronics - Miscellaneous Products industry was having an average PEG ratio of 1.27.

The Electronics - Miscellaneous Products industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 55, which puts it in the top 23% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank assesses the vigor of our specific industry groups by computing the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks incorporated in the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.

GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC – Free Report) by 8.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 40,495 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 3,132 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $7,894,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Formuepleje A S lifted its holdings in KLA by 1,125.5% during the 2nd quarter. Formuepleje A S now owns 30,062 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $9,070,000 after purchasing an additional 27,609 shares in the last quarter. TOWER TRUST & INVESTMENT Co increased its position in shares of KLA by 829.7% during the second quarter. TOWER TRUST & INVESTMENT Co now owns 7,456 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,249,000 after buying an additional 6,654 shares during the period. Abacus FCF Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of KLA in the second quarter worth about $20,763,000. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of KLA by 1,195.3% in the second quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 14,948 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $4,510,000 after buying an additional 13,794 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Colton Groome Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of KLA by 40.1% in the third quarter. Colton Groome Financial Advisors LLC now owns 28,728 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $5,600,000 after acquiring an additional 8,225 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

KLA Price Performance Shares of KLA stock opened at $196.72 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a current ratio of 2.88. KLA Corporation has a 52-week low of $98.10 and a 52-week high of $307.37. The company has a fifty day moving average of $187.79 and a 200-day moving average of $195.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $256.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.45.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC – Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The semiconductor company reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.05. KLA had a net margin of 35.57% and a return on equity of 87.66%. The company had revenue of $3.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.61 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.94 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. KLA has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 1.060-1.260 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that KLA Corporation will post 5.43 EPS for the current year. KLA Increases Dividend The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 17th were paid a $0.23 dividend. This is a boost from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 17th. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.07%.

Insider Buying and Selling In related news, CEO Richard Wallace sold 72,019 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.88, for a total transaction of $12,378,625.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 706,925 shares in the company, valued at $121,506,269. This represents a 9.25% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Brian Lorig sold 59,586 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.13, for a total value of $12,401,634.18. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 77,681 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,167,746.53. The trade was a 43.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 243,339 shares of company stock worth $46,903,454. Insiders own 79.39% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth Several brokerages recently commented on KLAC. Susquehanna set a $215.00 price objective on shares of KLA and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $325.00 price target on shares of KLA in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Morgan Stanley set a $227.00 price target on shares of KLA and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of KLA in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $195.00 price objective (down from $220.00) on shares of KLA in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Eighteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $221.26.

View Our Latest Stock Report on KLAC

KLA Company Profile (Free Report)

KLA Corporation (NASDAQ: KLAC) develops process-control and yield-management solutions used by semiconductor and electronics manufacturers. Its systems help customers detect defects, measure and analyze materials and structures, and monitor manufacturing processes throughout the production of integrated circuits and other advanced electronic components.

The company’s product portfolio includes inspection and metrology systems, wafer and reticle inspection equipment, process-control software, data analytics tools, and related services.

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MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its stake in shares of KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC – Free Report) by 62.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,958 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,203 shares during the quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB’s holdings in KLA were worth $2,136,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. McIlrath & Eck LLC lifted its holdings in shares of KLA by 6.8% during the 1st quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 94 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $139,000 after buying an additional 6 shares during the period. SouthState Bank Corp grew its holdings in shares of KLA by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. SouthState Bank Corp now owns 111 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $135,000 after acquiring an additional 7 shares during the period. Nemes Rush Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of KLA by 17.1% in the fourth quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 48 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $58,000 after acquiring an additional 7 shares during the period. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC increased its position in KLA by 36.4% during the first quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 60 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $88,000 after acquiring an additional 16 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stiles Financial Services Inc increased its position in KLA by 1.0% during the first quarter. Stiles Financial Services Inc now owns 1,783 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,625,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at KLA In related news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 72,019 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.88, for a total transaction of $12,378,625.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 706,925 shares in the company, valued at approximately $121,506,269. This represents a 9.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Brian Lorig sold 59,586 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.13, for a total transaction of $12,401,634.18. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 77,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,167,746.53. The trade was a 43.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 243,339 shares of company stock valued at $46,903,454. Corporate insiders own 79.39% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $253.00 target price on shares of KLA in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of KLA in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $270.00 price objective on shares of KLA in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 target price (up from $200.00) on shares of KLA in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of KLA in a report on Wednesday, June 17th. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, KLA presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $222.22. Read Our Latest Report on KLAC

KLA Stock Down 0.0% Shares of KLAC stock opened at $206.85 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 2.88 and a quick ratio of 2.03. KLA Corporation has a one year low of $98.10 and a one year high of $307.37. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $186.79 and its 200-day moving average price is $194.65. The company has a market capitalization of $269.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.41, a PEG ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.45.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The semiconductor company reported $1.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $3.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.61 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 87.66% and a net margin of 35.57%.KLA’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.94 EPS. KLA has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 1.060-1.260 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that KLA Corporation will post 5.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KLA Increases Dividend The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 17th were paid a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 17th. This is a positive change from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.07%.

About KLA (Free Report)

KLA Corporation (NASDAQ: KLAC) develops process-control and yield-management solutions used by semiconductor and electronics manufacturers. Its systems help customers detect defects, measure and analyze materials and structures, and monitor manufacturing processes throughout the production of integrated circuits and other advanced electronic components.

The company’s product portfolio includes inspection and metrology systems, wafer and reticle inspection equipment, process-control software, data analytics tools, and related services.

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In the latest close session, KLA (KLAC - Free Report) was up +2.76% at $200.31. The stock's performance was ahead of the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.2%. Meanwhile, the Dow experienced a rise of 0.04%, and the technology-dominated Nasdaq saw an increase of 0.04%.

The stock of maker of equipment for manufacturing semiconductors has risen by 13.16% in the past month, leading the Computer and Technology sector's gain of 4.78% and the S&P 500's loss of 0.35%.

Investors will be eagerly watching for the performance of KLA in its upcoming earnings disclosure. The company is forecasted to report an EPS of $1.18, showcasing a 34.09% upward movement from the corresponding quarter of the prior year. Meanwhile, the latest consensus estimate predicts the revenue to be $4.04 billion, indicating a 26.02% increase compared to the same quarter of the previous year.

Regarding the entire year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates forecast earnings of $5.42 per share and revenue of $17.84 billion, indicating changes of +44.15% and +31.35%, respectively, compared to the previous year.

Investors should also take note of any recent adjustments to analyst estimates for KLA. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. Therefore, positive revisions in estimates convey analysts' confidence in the business performance and profit potential.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. To take advantage of this, we've established the Zacks Rank, an exclusive model that considers these estimated changes and delivers an operational rating system.

The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has witnessed an unchanged state. As of now, KLA holds a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell).

Investors should also note KLA's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 35.99. This signifies a premium in comparison to the average Forward P/E of 20.73 for its industry.

Investors should also note that KLAC has a PEG ratio of 1.73 right now. The PEG ratio is akin to the commonly utilized P/E ratio, but this measure also incorporates the company's anticipated earnings growth rate. Electronics - Miscellaneous Products stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 1.39 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Electronics - Miscellaneous Products industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This industry, currently bearing a Zacks Industry Rank of 69, finds itself in the top 29% echelons of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank is ordered from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

To follow KLAC in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.

Shares of Navitas Semiconductor (NASDAQ:NVTS) were surging premarket, though the stock has since pared gains, last seen up 2% to trade at $11.96, after the company was selected to produce chips for the U.S. Army's ALATTIS (Accelerated, Large-Area, 10 kV SiC IGBT) program.

Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. lifted its holdings in KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC – Free Report) by 1,195.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,948 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 13,794 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc.’s holdings in KLA were worth $4,510,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in KLAC. Andra AP fonden raised its holdings in shares of KLA by 1,097.7% during the 2nd quarter. Andra AP fonden now owns 152,920 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $46,137,000 after buying an additional 140,152 shares during the period. Anchor Investment Management LLC boosted its position in KLA by 1,225.0% in the 2nd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 1,590 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $480,000 after buying an additional 1,470 shares during the last quarter. Cherry Tree Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of KLA by 900.0% during the second quarter. Cherry Tree Wealth Management LLC now owns 120 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 108 shares in the last quarter. Bouchey Financial Group Ltd. grew its stake in shares of KLA by 1,038.7% during the second quarter. Bouchey Financial Group Ltd. now owns 1,412 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $426,000 after acquiring an additional 1,288 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capstone Financial Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of KLA during the second quarter worth about $747,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at KLA In other KLA news, CAO Virendra Kirloskar sold 4,504 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.50, for a total value of $880,532.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 7,972 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,558,526. This represents a 36.10% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Brian Lorig sold 59,586 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.13, for a total transaction of $12,401,634.18. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 77,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,167,746.53. The trade was a 43.41% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 285,432 shares of company stock worth $58,369,370. Company insiders own 91.48% of the company’s stock.

KLA Price Performance Shares of NASDAQ KLAC opened at $187.11 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $244.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.45. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $188.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $192.02. KLA Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $98.10 and a fifty-two week high of $307.37. The company has a quick ratio of 2.03, a current ratio of 2.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The semiconductor company reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.05. KLA had a return on equity of 87.66% and a net margin of 35.57%.The firm had revenue of $3.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.61 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.94 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. KLA has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 1.060-1.260 EPS. Equities analysts expect that KLA Corporation will post 5.41 EPS for the current year.

KLA Increases Dividend The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 17th were issued a dividend of $0.23 per share. This is a positive change from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 17th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.07%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets A number of research analysts recently commented on KLAC shares. Bank of America increased their price target on KLA from $210.00 to $317.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Zacks Research upgraded KLA from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $230.00 target price on shares of KLA in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $270.00 price target on shares of KLA in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $245.00 price objective on shares of KLA and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, KLA presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $222.22.

View Our Latest Research Report on KLAC

KLA Company Profile (Free Report)

KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) develops process-control and yield-management technologies used by semiconductor and other advanced-electronics manufacturers. Its systems help customers detect, measure and analyze defects and variations during the production of integrated circuits, enabling manufacturers to improve process performance, product quality and manufacturing yields.

The company’s portfolio includes wafer and reticle inspection systems, metrology and measurement tools, defect-review and analysis equipment, and software that supports process control and data management.

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TSMC's advanced-packaging industrial park signals a surge in chip manufacturing complexity, and the companies that profit most will not be the ones building the packages. Three equipment suppliers sit at a critical chokepoint where every additional package produced forces a…

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TSMC is expanding advanced-packaging capacity as demand from Nvidia and other chip designers continues to rise. KLA, Camtek, and Nova sell different types of inspection and metrology equipment used to protect manufacturing yields. KLA offers the broadest exposure, while Camtek and Nova provide greater leverage to specialized packaging applications. Taiwan broke ground on a new advanced-packaging industrial park on September 21, with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (NYSE: TSM) serving as its principal technology anchor. The project will include facilities where equipment and materials suppliers can test and validate technologies used in advanced packaging before they enter mass production.

For investors, the more important question is not whether TSMC will remain the dominant producer of advanced AI processors. It is which equipment companies benefit as TSMC and its customers increase the number, size, and complexity of the packages they manufacture.

Three companies stand out: KLA Corporation (NASDAQ: KLAC), Camtek Ltd. (NASDAQ: CAMT), and Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ: NVMI). All three sell process-control equipment, but each addresses a different part of the manufacturing problem. KLA provides the broadest inspection platform, Camtek is the most directly exposed to advanced-packaging inspection, and Nova supplies specialized dimensional, materials, and chemical metrology.

Packaging Demand Creates the Equipment Opportunity Advanced packaging connects a high-performance processor with high-bandwidth memory and other components inside one integrated package. As more dies and connections are added, the financial cost of a defect increases. A defective component discovered late in production can result in the loss of several expensive dies rather than one unfinished chip.

This changes the economics of inspection. Semiconductor manufacturers cannot expand packaging output simply by installing more production equipment. They must also add inspection and metrology capacity to identify defects, verify alignment, measure critical dimensions, and control material composition. Higher packaging volume therefore creates demand for the equipment sold by KLA, Camtek, and Nova.

The equipment opportunity can grow faster than the number of packages produced because each new generation introduces additional points that must be inspected. A conventional chip is largely tested as a single device. An advanced package can combine a processor, several memory stacks, interposers, substrates, and thousands of microscopic connections. Inspection may be required before bonding, during assembly, and after the package is completed. The larger number of control points increases equipment demand even if the number of finished packages grows at a slower rate.

Yield also becomes more important as component values rise. If a low-cost chip is found defective near the end of production, the manufacturer loses one device. If a fault is discovered after an advanced processor and multiple HBM stacks have been combined, the loss can include several high-value components and the packaging work already performed. That makes process-control spending a form of economic protection. Manufacturers can postpone some capacity investments, but reducing inspection when package values are increasing can create a much larger financial loss.

According to Table 1, Nvidia-driven CoWoS demand is projected to increase from 360,000 wafers in 2024 to 810,000 in 2027. The forecast represents a 125% increase in three years. The largest annual increase occurs in 2026, when demand is expected to rise 40% to 678,000 wafers as Blackwell Ultra and Rubin CPX production increases.

Table 1: Nvidia-Driven CoWoS Demand Outlook

Year CoWoS Wafers (× 1,000 Units) YoY Growth Estimated GPU Units (Million) Principal Drivers 2024 360 — 5.3 Hopper-to-Blackwell transition 2025 484 34% 6.0 Blackwell full ramp 2026 678 40% 7.4 Blackwell Ultra and Rubin CPX 2027 810 19% 8.2 Continued data-center expansion Source: The Information Network 

The table is important because every additional CoWoS wafer must move through multiple inspection and measurement steps. The opportunity is not limited to Nvidia. Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD), Broadcom (NASDAQ: AVGO), and other designers also rely on TSMC’s packaging technologies for high-performance processors. Nvidia remains the largest demand driver, but the equipment investment is supported by a broader move toward multi-die designs.

The projected increase from 360,000 CoWoS wafers in 2024 to 810,000 in 2027 therefore understates the potential increase in inspection activity. New package generations are not merely increasing unit volume. They are becoming larger and more difficult to manufacture, requiring more measurements per package and tighter tolerances at each production step. This combination of higher volume and greater inspection intensity is what supports the revenue outlook for all three equipment companies.

KLA Offers the Broadest Exposure KLA is the largest and most diversified of the three companies. Its systems inspect patterned wafers and reticles, measure critical dimensions and overlay, analyze defects, and inspect packages, substrates, printed circuit boards, and electronic components. It can benefit before a processor reaches the packaging stage and again when that processor is integrated with memory and other dies.

KLA reported fiscal fourth-quarter 2026 revenue of $3.66 billion, an increase of 15.2% from the prior year. Full-year revenue reached $13.58 billion, while free cash flow totaled $3.77 billion. Management guided to approximately $4.0 billion in revenue at the midpoint for the September quarter, representing an additional sequential increase of about 9%.

KLA’s main advantage is its breadth. Its results do not depend on one customer, one packaging format, or one part of the semiconductor market. The company benefits from leading-edge logic, DRAM, high-bandwidth memory, reticle inspection, and advanced packaging. That diversification makes KLA the strongest core holding of the three, although its larger size means it will not grow as rapidly as a smaller supplier during a packaging-capacity surge.

KLA also benefits after its systems are installed. Inspection tools operate in production environments where uptime and measurement consistency are critical, creating continuing demand for service, maintenance, software, and replacement parts. As customers install more tools, KLA expands an installed base that can produce recurring revenue beyond the original equipment sale. This reduces some of the volatility normally associated with semiconductor capital equipment and gives KLA a second way to benefit from packaging expansion.

The limitation is that advanced packaging represents only one part of a much larger company. A major increase in packaging-related sales can materially improve Camtek’s results because of its smaller revenue base, while the same dollar increase has less effect on KLA’s consolidated growth. Investors choosing KLA are therefore emphasizing competitive strength, cash generation, and diversification rather than the highest possible sensitivity to the packaging cycle.

Camtek Has the Greatest Packaging Leverage Camtek provides the most direct exposure to advanced-packaging inspection. Approximately 75% of its second-quarter revenue came from advanced packaging, and management expects that proportion to approach 80% by the end of 2026.

The company reported second-quarter revenue of $133.2 million, increasing 10% sequentially and 8% from the prior year. Its third-quarter guidance of $158 million to $160 million implies approximately 20% sequential growth at the midpoint. Camtek also received more than $600 million in orders during the first seven months of 2026, with deliveries extending into 2027.

Camtek’s Eagle G5 and Hawk platforms inspect wafers, dies, interconnects, and other structures used in high-volume packaging. The company is also expanding into backside inspection, hybrid bonding, residue detection, and additional metrology applications. Its acquisition of Visual Layer adds software for image analysis and defect classification, which can improve inspection speed and reduce false alarms.

Camtek has the strongest near-term growth profile, but it also carries the greatest concentration risk. If advanced-packaging equipment orders slow or customers postpone capacity additions, Camtek has less diversification than KLA. Investors are therefore receiving greater growth potential in exchange for greater sensitivity to the packaging cycle.

The company’s order intake provides unusual visibility for a business of Camtek’s size. More than $600 million of orders received through the first seven months of 2026 exceeds a full year of revenue at its recent quarterly run rate. Because deliveries extend into 2027, Camtek enters the next year with a larger portion of expected demand already identified. The backlog does not eliminate execution risk, but it reduces dependence on orders that have not yet been placed.

Camtek must still convert those orders into shipments while maintaining gross margins and supporting a larger installed base. A rapid production ramp can pressure manufacturing, field service, and working capital. Customers may also alter delivery schedules even when the underlying projects remain active. These risks do not weaken the long-term packaging thesis, but they help explain why Camtek’s shares can be more volatile than KLA’s when investors question the timing of semiconductor capital spending.

Nova Extends Beyond Visible Defect Inspection Nova occupies a different position. Its systems measure dimensions, film thickness, material composition, and chemical properties throughout semiconductor manufacturing. These measurements become more important as chip structures become smaller vertically and more complex in three dimensions.

Nova reported record second-quarter revenue of $255.0 million, increasing 16% year over year and 8% sequentially. Management guided to third-quarter revenue of $277 million to $287 million, which implies sequential growth of approximately 11% at the midpoint.

The company reported record revenue from advanced logic, advanced packaging, front-end chemical metrology, and its Sentronics dimensional-metrology systems. This gives Nova exposure to packaging growth without making the company entirely dependent on it. Nova also benefits from gate-all-around transistors, advanced DRAM, and new materials used in leading-edge semiconductor production.

Nova’s investment case rests on market-share gains and the expansion of its technology into additional process steps. It is less diversified than KLA but broader than Camtek’s packaging-heavy revenue mix. That makes Nova the middle choice for investors seeking above-market growth with less direct dependence on a single equipment segment.

The distinction between inspection and metrology is important to Nova’s positioning. Inspection determines whether a defect or abnormality is present. Metrology determines whether a structure, film, or material is within the precise limits required for the process to work. As manufacturing tolerances narrow, a structure can appear free of visible defects and still fail because its dimensions or material composition are outside specification. Nova’s tools address that second problem.

This gives Nova opportunities in both package assembly and the fabrication of the chips that enter the package. More advanced processors and memory devices require additional measurement steps before they reach TSMC’s packaging lines. Nova can therefore benefit from the same demand cycle at multiple production stages, although it lacks the broad inspection portfolio and installed-base scale that distinguish KLA.

What Investors Should Watch TSMC’s packaging expansion provides the demand foundation, but the three equipment companies offer different ways to invest in it. KLA has the strongest market position and the broadest protection against a slowdown in any one segment. Camtek has the greatest direct leverage to rising packaging capacity and the strongest near-term revenue acceleration. Nova combines packaging exposure with dimensional, materials, and chemical metrology used elsewhere in advanced chip manufacturing.

For a core semiconductor-equipment position, KLA remains the most defensible choice. Camtek offers the greatest upside if current packaging orders translate into revenue through 2027, while Nova offers a more balanced growth alternative supported by share gains across several measurement categories.

Investors should monitor three different indicators. For KLA, the key question is whether rising process-control intensity continues to outpace overall wafer-fabrication-equipment growth. For Camtek, order conversion and the advanced-packaging percentage of revenue will show whether the current acceleration is durable. For Nova, continued share gains and adoption of new materials and chemical-metrology products will determine whether growth remains broader than the industry’s capital-spending cycle.

The common thesis is straightforward. As TSMC produces more complex packages for Nvidia and other chip designers, manufacturers must inspect more surfaces, measure more structures, and control more process steps. KLA, Camtek, and Nova sell the equipment required to accomplish those tasks, allowing investors to participate in the packaging expansion without relying exclusively on TSMC or a single processor company.

Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.

Choosing between a niche equipment provider and a diversified industry titan requires balancing high growth potential against established stability. Here is how Aehr Test Systems (AEHR +3.25%) and KLA (KLAC +4.74%) compare for investors.

Aehr Test Systems focuses on specific stress-testing solutions for power semiconductors and memory, while KLA provides broad process control tools used across the entire chip-making industry. While they both operate in the same sector, their scale and risk profiles differ significantly, making them attractive to different types of portfolios.

The case for Aehr Test SystemsAehr Test Systems designs and sells specialized equipment for the testing and stabilization of semiconductor products in various forms, including wafers and singulated dies. The company focuses on the high-growth silicon carbide market for electric vehicles and high-bandwidth memory for artificial intelligence infrastructure. In its 2026 fiscal year (FY), which ended May 29, its five largest customers accounted for nearly 70% of net sales, and customer concentration like this adds a layer of risk to the business.

In FY 2026, revenue reached $50.0 million, representing a decline of 15.2% compared to the previous year. This contraction followed a period of higher operating costs, resulting in a net loss of $7.1 million for the period. The net margin, which represents the percentage of revenue remaining as profit after all expenses, was -14.3% in the latest fiscal year.

As of its May 2026 balance sheet, the debt-to-equity ratio is zero, indicating that the company has no debt relative to its shareholder equity. The current ratio, which measures a company's ability to cover short-term liabilities with short-term assets, is 10.3x. Free cash flow, defined as cash from operations minus capital expenditures, was a negative $5.4 million for the fiscal year ended in May.

The case for KLAKLA develops equipment and services for advanced process control, helping manufacturers identify defects during the chip-making process to improve production yields. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company is a major customer, accounting for more than 10% of total revenues, and customer concentration like this adds a layer of risk to the business. Beyond equipment sales, the company maintains a steady services business that accounts for roughly 23% of its total revenue.

In FY 2026, ended June 30, revenue reached $13.6 billion, an increase of 11.7% over the prior year. This growth supported a net income $4.8 billion, showcasing the company's ability to scale operations profitably. The net margin for the fiscal year was 35.6%, suggesting that more than a third of every dollar earned in revenue was retained as profit.

As of its June 2026 balance sheet, the debt-to-equity ratio is 1.0x, showing an equal balance between total debt and shareholder equity. The current ratio is 2.9x, indicating the company maintains sufficient liquidity to meet its immediate financial obligations. Free cash flow reached $3.8 billion for the fiscal year ended in June.

Risk profile comparisonAehr Test Systems faces extreme revenue concentration where a few customers dictate much of its financial health. The business is highly cyclical and sensitive to the capital expenditure cycles of electric vehicle and memory manufacturers. It is also exposed to geopolitical tensions involving the United States, China, and Taiwan, which can lead to supply chain disruptions or export restrictions. Furthermore, the company must compete with much larger manufacturers.

KLA deals with its own form of customer concentration, particularly its reliance on major manufacturers such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company. The company faces stiff competition from industry peers such as Applied Materials and Lasertec. Operations are also subject to stringent U.S. export controls that impact sales in China. Additionally, KLA must manage complex cybersecurity risks due to the sensitivity of its intellectual property and the global nature of its information technology infrastructure.

Valuation comparisonKLA trades at a more modest valuation relative to its earnings estimates, while Aehr Test Systems carries a much higher multiple despite its recent net loss.

MetricAehr Test SystemsKLAForward P/E127.2x33.1xP/S ratio62.9x17.5xValuation metrics sourced from Financial Modeling Prep (FMP) and may differ from other data providers.

Which stock would I buy in 2026?KLA Corporation and Aehr Test Systems are both critical players in the semiconductor equipment industry, but they cater to entirely different risk profiles and market caps for investors seeking exposure to the artificial intelligence sector. KLA is a mega-cap global market leader in process control and wafer inspection, while Aehr is a small-cap high-growth player specializing in wafer-level test and burn-in solutions.

Between the two, I would invest in KLA for several reasons. It is generating profits, pays a dividend, and its share price valuation is far more reasonable than Aehr. As an industry titan, KLA holds a strong competitive moat, since customers would incur high switching costs to move to a rival.

Aehr Test Systems is the smaller, up-and-coming company. However, it's not profitable, and while it ended its FY 2026 with fourth-quarter sales of $18.8 million, compared to $14.1 million in the prior year, and record bookings of $60.7 million, it isn't as financially strong as KLA, given its negative free cash flow. Moreover, Aehr’s high stock valuation suggests its future growth has already been factored into the share price, limiting upside potential.

Chip equipment stocks are breaking away from the broader semiconductor pack on Friday, and the pattern of who is buying what reveals something specific about where money is flowing and why the tools layer keeps trading on its own terms.

Chip equipment stocks are pulling ahead of the broader semiconductor group in Friday morning trading, with buying concentrated in the tools layer rather than across chip designers and foundries. Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX | LRCX Price Prediction) is leading that move, and the peer response tells the story of a group trading on its own clock rather than following the wider semiconductor sector.

The iShares Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ:SOXX) is up 0.9%, a modest gain that reads as sector context rather than confirmation of the tools move. Meanwhile, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSEARCA:SPY) is down 0.16%, so Friday’s strength is narrow and equipment-specific rather than a broader risk-on session.

Lam Research stock is up 5% to $283.77, leading the equipment group and clawing back part of a rough month for the shares. The gain leaves Lam Research up 66% year to date (YTD) and still down 13% over the past month, so Friday’s move sits inside a wider swing between long-run strength and short-term selling.

Equipment Names Outrun the Chip Fund At the same time, Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) shares are climbing 4% to $435.09, joining Lam Research in a broad move higher across the tools layer. The Applied Materials advance lines up cleanly with Lam Research’s session gain, which stands out on a day when the semiconductor fund is barely up and the broad market fund is down.

KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) stock is gaining 3% to $173.49, rounding out an equipment trio all rising faster than SOXX itself. Among the three, KLA is the smallest mover, but the direction is the same, and every one of these names sits well above the sector fund’s 0.9% gain in Friday’s session.

The shape of the session matters here. When the fund that holds Lam Research, Applied Materials and KLA alongside chip designers and foundries barely nudges, that pattern says the buying is landing on the equipment layer specifically rather than washing across the entire semiconductor group.

Why Tools Stocks Trade on Their Own Clock Lam Research, Applied Materials and KLA all live one step upstream from the chip market. The three companies sell the machines that manufacture and inspect chips, so their stocks tend to react to what chipmakers intend to spend on new capacity, rather than to the current level of demand for finished silicon.

That gap is why sessions like this one can leave equipment names higher while the broader semiconductor fund barely moves. Capital plans stretch across quarters and years, so Lam Research, Applied Materials and KLA often reprice ahead of, or apart from, the chip layer that sells the finished product.

No verified company release dated today explains Lam Research’s gain, and neither Applied Materials nor KLA posted a same-day announcement pointing at a fresh catalyst. The buying reads instead as money returning to a group that had been sold hard into September, with Lam Research shares still carrying that 13% one-month decline even after Friday’s bounce.

What the Session Leaves Unresolved The open question here is whether Friday’s equipment leadership marks a genuine shift in how the market is pricing future capital spending, or a bounce in a group that had gotten oversold. Lam Research is the clearest test case, given how deep its September drawdown had run before Friday’s rally began to take hold.

For Lam Research, the setup is bullish on longer horizons and bruised on shorter ones. The stock’s 66% YTD gain reflects the year’s run in AI-linked equipment names (we studied what those early monster runs tend to look like in a free playbook here), while its 13% one-month drawdown shows how quickly that trade can unwind when positioning gets crowded and buyers step back.

Applied Materials and KLA carry a similar profile, though their one-month paths differ from Lam Research’s own drawdown. Both peers are participating on Friday, which supports the reading that this is an equipment-layer move rather than a single-name rebound isolated to Lam Research.

What to Watch Next Investors can watch for whether Friday’s equipment leadership carries into next week or fades once the session closes. If SOXX widens its gain and joins Lam Research higher, that would suggest broader participation, whereas a fund that drifts back while Lam Research holds looks more like rotation inside the group than a rerating of chip demand.

Traders sizing their exposure to Lam Research should weigh the stock’s sharp one-month decline against its still-strong YTD standing, and moderate their position accordingly given the volatility on display. Applied Materials and KLA Corp. offer more diversified equipment exposure for shareholders who want the theme without concentrating their risk in a single tools name.

Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.

Investors with an interest in Electronics - Miscellaneous Products stocks have likely encountered both Daktronics (DAKT - Free Report) and KLA (KLAC - Free Report) . But which of these two stocks presents investors with the better value opportunity right now? Let's take a closer look.

There are plenty of strategies for discovering value stocks, but we have found that pairing a strong Zacks Rank with an impressive grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system produces the best returns. The Zacks Rank is a proven strategy that targets companies with positive earnings estimate revision trends, while our Style Scores work to grade companies based on specific traits.

Both Daktronics and KLA have a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) right now. Investors should feel comfortable knowing that both of these stocks have an improving earnings outlook since the Zacks Rank favors companies that have witnessed positive analyst estimate revisions. But this is just one factor that value investors are interested in.

Value investors also tend to look at a number of traditional, tried-and-true figures to help them find stocks that they believe are undervalued at their current share price levels.

Our Value category highlights undervalued companies by looking at a variety of key metrics, including the popular P/E ratio, as well as the P/S ratio, earnings yield, cash flow per share, and a variety of other fundamentals that have been used by value investors for years.

DAKT currently has a forward P/E ratio of 14.36, while KLAC has a forward P/E of 30.97. We also note that DAKT has a PEG ratio of 0.57. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. KLAC currently has a PEG ratio of 1.49.

Another notable valuation metric for DAKT is its P/B ratio of 2.66. The P/B ratio pits a stock's market value against its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. For comparison, KLAC has a P/B of 34.43.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to DAKT's Value grade of A and KLAC's Value grade of D.

Both DAKT and KLAC are impressive stocks with solid earnings outlooks, but based on these valuation figures, we feel that DAKT is the superior value option right now.

Key Takeaways Astera Labs appears to offer greater upside on stronger earnings growth and rapid PCIe 6 adoption. ALAB expects Q3 2026 revenues of $540M-$560M, with the midpoint implying about 40% sequential growth. KLA sees advanced packaging process-control revenues near $1.1B in 2026, up more than 70% year over year. Astera Labs (ALAB - Free Report) and KLA (KLAC - Free Report) are major players in the semiconductor industry. While ALAB focuses on high-speed connectivity solutions for AI-driven data centers, KLA provides advanced process control and inspection solutions that enable manufacturers to produce increasingly complex semiconductors used in AI data centers and applications.

So, ALAB or KLAC — Which of these semiconductor stocks has the greater upside potential? Let’s find out.

The Case for ALAB StockAstera Labs is benefiting from a robust and diversified product portfolio to address the growing demands of AI infrastructure and connectivity solutions, as well as its expanding partner base. It benefits from strong demand for its PCIe solutions, which have also been a major growth driver. In the second quarter of 2026, PCIe 6 products, including the Scorpio AI Fabric Switches and Aries Retimers, accounted for more than 50% of total revenues, highlighting the market leadership of ALAB’s Gen 6 portfolio.

The company’s diversified product portfolio is a key strength. Scorpio X-Series, now in volume production, is set to become ALAB’s largest product family by the third quarter of 2026, ahead of schedule. Aries signal conditioning products also delivered record revenues, driven by the transition to PCIe 6 and the increasing complexity of AI system deployments. Taurus, another product line, is ramping up with 800-gig deployments and next-generation 200-gig per lane solutions, expanding ALAB’s market reach.

The Aries and Taurus product families are also benefiting from semiconductor demand tied to AI infrastructure. Aries posted record quarterly revenues as PCIe 6 retimers gained traction across scale-up and scale-out systems. Higher accelerator cluster sizes, increased unit attach rates, and richer average selling prices are supporting growth. Meanwhile, Taurus is benefiting from the transition toward 800-gig Ethernet connectivity, while upcoming 1.6T and 3.2T solutions should expand its opportunity as data-center networks move to faster transmission speeds.

Astera Labs is benefiting from strong demand for its Aries, Taurus and Scorpio product families, all of which are expected to drive growth in the third quarter of 2026. For the same quarter, revenues are expected to be between $540 million and $560 million. The midpoint implies sequential growth of approximately 40%, driven by the Scorpio X-Series production ramp, continued Aries PCIe 6 retimer strength and preproduction Taurus shipments for 800-gigabit Ethernet applications. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for third-quarter revenues is pegged at $405.29 million, representing year-over-year growth of 75.78%.

The Case for KLAC StockKLA is benefiting from strong semiconductor demand, driven by accelerating investments in artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, leading-edge foundry/logic, memory, and advanced packaging. In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026, revenues reached a record $3.66 billion, increasing 15% year over year and 7% sequentially. Management attributed the performance to rising AI infrastructure investments and greater process-control intensity across memory and advanced packaging.

AI infrastructure remains a major growth catalyst. Increasing AI compute requirements, hyperscale data-center investments, high-bandwidth memory (HBM) adoption and sophisticated packaging architectures require tighter process control to improve yields and accelerate production ramps. KLA highlighted that customer demand signals have strengthened materially, while visibility continues to improve. The company expects business momentum to accelerate through the second half of 2026 and significant growth to continue in 2027.

Advanced packaging provides another significant growth opportunity. KLA now expects advanced packaging process-control systems revenues to reach approximately $1.1 billion in calendar 2026, representing growth of more than 70% year over year and exceeding its previous expectation of high-50% growth. Meanwhile, Specialty Process, PCB and Component Inspection businesses are expected to grow more than 25% in calendar year 2026, supported by high-performance computing and greater package complexity.

The broader semiconductor equipment environment also remains favorable. KLA raised its calendar year 2026 wafer fabrication equipment market estimate, including advanced packaging, to the low-$150-billion range from its previous expectation of more than $140 billion. Broad-based investment across leading-edge logic, foundry, DRAM, HBM, NAND and advanced packaging is expected to sustain capacity expansion. KLA expects second-half 2026 revenues to increase roughly 20% from the first half.

Price Performance and Valuation of ALAB and KLACIn the year-to-date period, shares of ALAB and KLAC have surged 54.5% and 39.2%, respectively. The outperformance of ALAB stock can be attributed to strong demand for its AI connectivity products, especially the Scorpio, Aries and Taurus portfolios.

Despite KLAC’s expanding portfolio, memory-component pricing remains a margin headwind, while tariffs, trade restrictions, and semiconductor capital-spending cyclicality add risks.

ALAB and KLAC Stock Performance
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Valuation-wise, ALAB and KLA shares are currently overvalued, as suggested by a Value Score of F and D, respectively.

In terms of forward 12-month Price/Sales, ALAB shares are trading at 16.47X, higher than KLA’s 11.92X.

ALAB and KLAC Valuation
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

How Do Earnings Estimates Compare for ALAB & KLAC?The Zacks Consensus Estimate for ALAB’s 2026 earnings is pegged at $3.97 per share, which has been unchanged over the past 30 days. This indicates a 115.76% increase year over year.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for KLAC’s fiscal 2027 earnings is pegged at $5.43 per share, which has been unchanged over the past 30 days. This indicates a 44.41% increase year over year. 

ALAB’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in all the trailing four quarters, delivering an average surprise of 17.07%. KLAC’s earnings beat the consensus mark in all the trailing four quarters, delivering an average surprise of 2.75%. The average surprise of ALAB is higher than that of KLAC.

ConclusionWhile both ALAB and KLAC are well-positioned to benefit from rising semiconductor and AI infrastructure investments, ALAB appears to offer greater upside, supported by stronger earnings growth, higher average earnings surprises, and rapid adoption of its PCIe 6 connectivity portfolio.

Despite KLA’s strong exposure to AI-driven semiconductor investments and advanced packaging, margin pressure from memory-component pricing, trade restrictions, and the cyclical nature of semiconductor capital spending remain key concerns.

Currently, Astera Labs sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), making the stock a stronger pick than KLA, which has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

KLA (KLAC - Free Report) closed at $180.64 in the latest trading session, marking a +1.95% move from the prior day. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.86%. At the same time, the Dow added 0.98%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.96%.

Shares of the maker of equipment for manufacturing semiconductors have depreciated by 15.38% over the course of the past month, underperforming the Computer and Technology sector's loss of 0.56%, and the S&P 500's loss of 1.96%.

The upcoming earnings release of KLA will be of great interest to investors. The company's upcoming EPS is projected at $1.17, signifying a 32.95% increase compared to the same quarter of the previous year. Alongside, our most recent consensus estimate is anticipating revenue of $4.03 billion, indicating a 25.42% upward movement from the same quarter last year.

KLAC's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $5.43 per share and revenue of $17.85 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +44.41% and +31.46%, respectively.

Investors should also take note of any recent adjustments to analyst estimates for KLA. Such recent modifications usually signify the changing landscape of near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the business outlook.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.

The Zacks Rank system, which varies between #1 (Strong Buy) and #5 (Strong Sell), carries an impressive track record of exceeding expectations, confirmed by external audits, with stocks at #1 delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant within the past month. At present, KLA boasts a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Looking at valuation, KLA is presently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 32.66. This denotes a premium relative to the industry average Forward P/E of 20.27.

We can also see that KLAC currently has a PEG ratio of 1.57. The PEG ratio bears resemblance to the frequently used P/E ratio, but this parameter also includes the company's expected earnings growth trajectory. The average PEG ratio for the Electronics - Miscellaneous Products industry stood at 1.39 at the close of the market yesterday.

The Electronics - Miscellaneous Products industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. With its current Zacks Industry Rank of 54, this industry ranks in the top 22% of all industries, numbering over 250.

The Zacks Industry Rank evaluates the power of our distinct industry groups by determining the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks forming the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.

KLA (KLAC - Free Report) ended the recent trading session at $177.18, demonstrating a -3.13% change from the preceding day's closing price. The stock's change was less than the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.59%. Elsewhere, the Dow lost 0.6%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.65%.

Shares of the maker of equipment for manufacturing semiconductors witnessed a loss of 12.17% over the previous month, trailing the performance of the Computer and Technology sector with its loss of 0.02%, and the S&P 500's loss of 1.37%.

Investors will be eagerly watching for the performance of KLA in its upcoming earnings disclosure. The company is forecasted to report an EPS of $1.17, showcasing a 32.95% upward movement from the corresponding quarter of the prior year. Meanwhile, the latest consensus estimate predicts the revenue to be $4.03 billion, indicating a 25.42% increase compared to the same quarter of the previous year.

For the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates project earnings of $5.43 per share and a revenue of $17.85 billion, demonstrating changes of +44.41% and +31.46%, respectively, from the preceding year.

It's also important for investors to be aware of any recent modifications to analyst estimates for KLA. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the business outlook.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. To exploit this, we've formed the Zacks Rank, a quantitative model that includes these estimate changes and presents a viable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), possesses a remarkable history of outdoing, externally audited, with #1 stocks returning an average annual gain of +25% since 1988. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has witnessed an unchanged state. KLA is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

In terms of valuation, KLA is presently being traded at a Forward P/E ratio of 33.71. This represents a premium compared to its industry average Forward P/E of 20.64.

Also, we should mention that KLAC has a PEG ratio of 1.62. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. As of the close of trade yesterday, the Electronics - Miscellaneous Products industry held an average PEG ratio of 1.35.

The Electronics - Miscellaneous Products industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. With its current Zacks Industry Rank of 53, this industry ranks in the top 22% of all industries, numbering over 250.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.

KLA Corporation (KLAC) Presents at Citi's 2026 Global TMT Conference Transcript

On CNBC’s “Halftime Report Final Trades,” Stephen Weiss, chief investment officer and managing partner of Short Hills Capital Partners, picked FTAI Aviation Ltd. (NASDAQ:FTAI).

Supporting his choice, Morgan Stanley analyst Kristine Liwag, on Aug. 21, maintained FTAI Aviation with an Overweight rating and raised the price target from $319 to $360.

Rob Sechan, CEO of NewEdge Wealth, named KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) as his final trade.

On the earnings front, KLA reported quarterly earnings of $1.05 per share on July 28, beating the analyst consensus estimate of $1 by 5%, according to Benzinga Pro data. Quarterly revenue came in at $3.66 billion, which beat the Street estimate of $3.6 billion.

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Kevin Simpson, founder and CEO of Capital Wealth Planning, said he likes NVIDIA Corporation’s (NASDAQ:NVDA) acquisition of Hugging Face.

Nvidia, on Sept. 3, said it agreed to acquire Hugging Face for $12.93 billion, bringing one of the world’s largest open artificial intelligence developer platforms under the AI chip giant’s roof. The deal would combine the company’s computing infrastructure and engineering resources with a platform used by more than 18 million developers, researchers and creators.

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Jim Lebenthal, partner and chief market strategist at Cerity Partners, said Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) has got good momentum.

On Sept. 4, Morgan Stanley analyst Keith Weiss maintained Oracle with an Equal-Weight rating and raised the price target from $207 to $210, while RBC Capital analyst Rishi Jaluria reiterated the stock with a Sector Perform and maintained a $190 price target.

Price Action FTAI Aviation shares fell 1.6% to close at $196.28 on Friday. KLA shares jumped 7.3% to settle at $185.60 during the session. Nvidia shares gained 0.8% to close at $230.36 on Friday. Oracle shares rose 3.1% to settle at $158.78. Read Next

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DMC Group LLC increased its position in shares of KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC – Free Report) by 887.3% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 8,560 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,693 shares during the quarter. KLA accounts for about 1.8% of DMC Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 12th largest position. DMC Group LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $2,583,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. McIlrath & Eck LLC boosted its stake in KLA by 6.8% in the 1st quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 94 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $139,000 after purchasing an additional 6 shares during the period. Motco raised its stake in KLA by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Motco now owns 405 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $492,000 after purchasing an additional 7 shares during the period. Nemes Rush Group LLC raised its stake in KLA by 17.1% during the 4th quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 48 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $58,000 after purchasing an additional 7 shares during the period. SouthState Bank Corp lifted its holdings in shares of KLA by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. SouthState Bank Corp now owns 111 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $135,000 after purchasing an additional 7 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Root Financial Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of KLA by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 796 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $967,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price target (up from $200.00) on shares of KLA in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $250.00 price objective on KLA and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $195.00 target price (down from $220.00) on shares of KLA in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of KLA in a report on Wednesday, June 17th. Finally, TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 price target (up from $200.00) on shares of KLA in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, KLA has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $222.22.

Read Our Latest Stock Report on KLA Insider Transactions at KLA In other KLA news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 27,701 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $265.69, for a total value of $7,359,878.69. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 263,472 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $70,001,875.68. The trade was a 9.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Virendra Kirloskar sold 4,504 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.50, for a total transaction of $880,532.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 7,972 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,558,526. This represents a 36.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 258,533 shares of company stock valued at $55,977,470 in the last ninety days. 91.48% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

KLA Price Performance KLAC opened at $185.60 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $205.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $188.93. The company has a current ratio of 2.88, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. KLA Corporation has a 1 year low of $87.83 and a 1 year high of $307.37. The stock has a market cap of $242.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.61, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.45.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC – Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The semiconductor company reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.05. KLA had a return on equity of 87.66% and a net margin of 35.57%.The company had revenue of $3.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.61 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.94 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. KLA has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 1.060-1.260 EPS. Analysts forecast that KLA Corporation will post 5.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KLA Increases Dividend The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Monday, August 17th were issued a $0.23 dividend. This is an increase from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 17th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.07%.

KLA Company Profile (Free Report)

KLA is a provider of process control and yield management solutions for the semiconductor and related microelectronics industries. The company designs and manufactures equipment, software and services used by chipmakers to analyze and control manufacturing processes, detect defects, measure critical dimensions and improve yield across wafer fabrication, photomask and packaging operations. KLA’s offerings are aimed at enabling production of advanced logic, memory, and specialty devices at progressively smaller technology nodes and more complex package structures.

Its product portfolio includes optical and e-beam inspection systems, metrology tools for critical dimension and film measurement, mask and reticle inspection platforms, as well as enterprise software and data analytics that aggregate process data and drive automated process control.

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4.9.2026 22:17, DJI, SPX, QQQ

Zámořské akciové trhy zakončily dnešní obchodování v záporném teritoriu. Index Dow Jones klesl o 0,51 % na 53 414,25 bodu, S&P 500 odepsal 0,38 % na 7 718,60 bodu a technologický Nasdaq Composite ztratil 0,29 % na 26 506,99 bodu. Hlavním impulsem k poklesu byla překvapivě silná data z amerického trhu práce, která zvýšila pravděpodobnost, že centrální banka v září zvýší úrokové sazby.

Mezi sektory indexu S&P 500 se nejvíce dařilo průmyslu se ziskem 0,4 %, informačním technologiím s růstem o 0,2 % a utilitám, které stagnovaly. Naopak nejvýraznější pokles zaznamenala zbytná spotřeba se ztrátou 1,3 %, následovaná zdravotní péčí a energiemi se shodným poklesem o 1 %. Z jednotlivých akcií výrazně posílily společnosti Sandisk Corp (SNDK) o 12 %, KLA Corp (KLAC) o 7,3 %, Marvell Technology (MRVL) o 7,1 %, Coherent Corp (COHR) o 6,6 % a NRG Energy (NRG) o 6,4 %. Na opačné straně trhu se ocitla společnost Lululemon Athletica (LULU), jež po zhoršení celoročního výhledu propadla o 17 %. Výrazně ztrácely také společnosti Fair Isaac Corp (FICO) o 17 %, Autodesk (ADSK) o 8,3 %, Adobe (ADBE) o 6,7 % a Equifax (EFX) o 6,4 %.

Očekávání přísnější měnové politiky poslalo nahoru výnosy amerických vládních dluhopisů. Výnos dvouletého dluhopisu vzrostl na 4,37 %, výnos desetiletého dluhopisu stoupl na 4,78 %. Euro vůči americkému dolaru mírně oslabilo o 0,1 % na 1,1614 USD a japonský jen klesl o 0,3 % na 156,27 JPY za dolar. Ropa WTI mírně posílila o 0,1 % na 91,41 USD za barel, zatímco spotové zlato odepsalo 0,9 % na 4 432,58 USD za trojskou unci.

Index Dow Jones -0,51 % na 53414,25 b.
S&P 500 -0,38 % na 7718,6 b.
Nasdaq Composite -0,29 % na 26506,99 b.

Index S&P 500 -0,38 % na 7718,6 b. Nejsilnější sektory S&P Změna Nejslabší sektory S&P Změna Průmysl +0,4 % Zbytná spotřeba -1,3 % Informační technologie +0,2 % Zdravotní péče -1 % Utility +0 % Energie -1 % Nejsilnější akcie S&P Změna Nejslabší akcie S&P Změna Sandisk Corp (SNDK) +12 % Lululemon Athletica (LULU) -17 % KLA Corp (KLAC) +7,3 % Fair Isaac Corp (FICO) -17 % Marvell Technology (MRVL) +7,1 % Autodesk (ADSK) -8,3 % Coherent Corp (COHR) +6,6 % Adobe (ADBE) -6,7 % NRG Energy (NRG) +6,4 % Equifax (EFX) -6,4 %
Daniel Marván
Fio banka, a.s.
Prohlášení

Key Takeaways KLA expects advanced packaging process-control revenues to top $1.1B in 2026, rising more than 70%.Hybrid bonding, HPC and HBM are increasing inspection and measurement steps, supporting KLA's tool demand.Onto raised its 2026 packaging growth outlook to 80%, while Applied Materials expects over 50% growth. KLA (KLAC - Free Report) is benefiting from accelerating demand for advanced packaging as AI and high-performance computing (HPC) chips require increasingly complex integration of logic and memory. Rising package complexity, higher performance requirements and growing chip values are increasing the need for inspection, metrology and process-control tools. KLA stated that the increasing complexity and value of semiconductor packages, particularly for AI and HPC applications, is driving significant growth in its advanced packaging business. The company’s strong portfolio is strengthening competitive prowess against Onto Innovation (ONTO - Free Report) and Applied Materials (AMAT - Free Report) .

The momentum is already translating into strong revenue growth. KLA expects advanced packaging process-control systems revenues to reach approximately $1.1 billion in calendar 2026, representing growth of more than 70% year over year. The company attributed the expansion to rising process-control intensity as chip designs become more complex and performance specifications become more demanding. Technology transitions such as hybrid bonding are creating additional opportunities. Along with HPC and High-Bandwidth Memory (HBM) adoption, advanced packaging technologies like hybrid bonding are increasing the number of inspection and measurement steps required during manufacturing, supporting demand for KLA's tools.

KLA’s broad portfolio allows the company to capture spending across multiple stages of advanced packaging. KLAC’s wafer inspection and metrology systems help manufacturers detect and monitor defects and process excursions in wafer-level packaging, while chemistry process-control systems monitor materials used in wafer-level and panel-level packaging and IC substrates. Advanced packaging is also benefiting businesses beyond KLA’s core Semiconductor Process Control operations. HPC packaging and integration are driving demand within its Specialty Process and PCB and Component Inspection businesses, with these combined products expected to grow more than 25% in calendar 2026.

Tough Competition Hurts KLAC’s ProspectsOnto Innovation and Applied Materials are well known for their advanced packaging process control offerings.

Onto is emerging as a particularly strong challenger in packaging inspection and metrology. The company raised its 2026 advanced packaging growth outlook to approximately 80%, up from 50% previously, driven by strong demand from HBM manufacturers and outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) customers. Onto secured more than $200 million of Dragonfly orders from a single OSAT, with most shipments scheduled for 2027. The company’s Dragonfly inspection business grew 30% sequentially in the second quarter of 2026, supported by 2.5D logic and HBM applications.

Applied Materials is increasingly challenging KLA in process diagnostics and control. Applied Materials expects this business to grow more than 50% in 2026, supported by greater use of e-beam metrology and inspection for increasingly complex structures and new optical-inspection products aimed at gaining application share. Moreover, its EPIC co-innovation strategy gives Applied deeper access to customers developing future chip and packaging architectures, potentially allowing it to secure process-control positions earlier in the technology-development cycle.

KLAC’s Share Price Performance, Valuation & EstimatesKLAC shares have jumped 50.9% year to date, outperforming the broader Zacks Computer and Technology sector’s return of 15.4%.

KLAC Stock’s Performance
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

KLA stock is overvalued, with a forward 12-month price/sales of 13.05X compared with the broader sector’s 6.32X. KLAC has a Value Score of D.

KLAC Valuation
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for fiscal 2027 earnings is pegged at $5.43 per share, up 7.1% over the past 30 days, suggesting 44.41% growth from the figure reported in fiscal 2026.

KLA currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.