KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Issues Q4 Earnings Guidance

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) issued an update on its fourth quarter earnings guidance on Thursday morning. The company provided earnings per share (EPS) guidance of $5.47-6.67 for the period, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.73. The company issued revenue guidance of $2.375-2.625 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $2.43 billion. KLA also updated its Q4 2024 guidance to 5.470-6.670 EPS.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on KLAC. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on KLA from $560.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their target price on KLA from $625.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Bank of America upped their price objective on KLA from $740.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on KLA in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. They set a buy rating and a $800.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Susquehanna reiterated a neutral rating and set a $675.00 target price on shares of KLA in a research report on Monday, April 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $696.58.

KLA Price Performance

KLA stock traded up $16.41 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $672.95. 1,018,438 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 958,888. KLA has a 12 month low of $355.88 and a 12 month high of $729.15. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. The stock has a market cap of $91.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.95, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.34. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $684.10 and its 200-day moving average is $597.60.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The semiconductor company reported $6.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.91 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 107.56% and a net margin of 27.98%. The business’s revenue was down 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $7.38 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that KLA will post 22.61 EPS for the current year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 19th were issued a $1.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. This represents a $5.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.86%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.46%.

Insider Activity at KLA

In related news, EVP Oreste Donzella sold 3,257 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $697.85, for a total value of $2,272,897.45. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,922 shares in the company, valued at $11,809,017.70. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other KLA news, EVP Oreste Donzella sold 3,257 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $697.85, for a total transaction of $2,272,897.45. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 16,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,809,017.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,018 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $705.04, for a total transaction of $4,947,970.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 32,375 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,825,670. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About KLA

KLA Corporation designs, manufactures, and markets process control, process-enabling, and yield management solutions for the semiconductor and related electronics industries worldwide. It operates through three segments: Semiconductor Process Control; Specialty Semiconductor Process; and PCB, Display and Component Inspection.