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Makes process-control and inspection equipment that finds defects on chip wafers during manufacturing.
Makes process-control and inspection equipment that finds defects on chip wafers during manufacturing.
Sells systems that fabs install at each new chip generation, then earns a steady flow from servicing and upgrading them. Customers are the few chipmakers building leading-edge chips, so its sales follow their spending plans. Process control is its sole focus, unlike broader equipment rivals.
Moat: wide (scale, installed base, process know-how). Dominant share in defect inspection; fabs standardize on its tools across a node's life, raising switching costs.
Headquarters: Milpitas, California, US · Founded: 1975 · Employees: 17,200
Size KLA (KLAC) is a United States Information Technology company (Semiconductors) with a market value of $180B, the 67th largest of 3,117 United States companies the cockpit tracks. Shares closed at $138.49 on 6 Nov 2026.
Performance Over six months the shares fell 25.8%, against -14.1% for the median peer and -1.1% for the United States market (cap-weighted) — 5th lowest of 19 in its peer set.
Growth Revenue grew 15.8% over the last twelve months (peer median +23.7%); the operating margin is 42.7% (peer median 22.6%).
Valuation It trades at 22.3× forward earnings against a peer median of 24.7× (8th cheapest of 20).
Price implies For today's price to make sense, revenue must grow about 23% a year for seven years (Req g). Recent delivered growth is +14%, so the hurdle is +9 pp: the price needs faster growth than the company has been delivering — of companies that just grew 25–50% a year, 93.8% slowed down over the next four years.
Capital Return on invested capital runs 50.9 points above its cost of capital (12.1% WACC).
Backlog Backlog (remaining performance obligations) was $7.86B at 30 Jun 2025, down 20% on a year earlier — 0.6 years of trailing revenue. Backlog detail →
Credit KLA has 8 bonds outstanding ($5.95B), rated A by the agencies and trading like A- at a weighted spread of 78 bp.
Short interest Short interest is 1.9% of the free float (15 Oct 2026).
Next results Next results expected around 4 Feb 2027 (exchange calendar; dates can move).
| TTM | FY2026 | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $14.5B | $13.6B | $12.1B | $9.79B | $10.5B |
| Revenue growth | — | +12% | +24% | -6% | — |
| Gross profit | $8.81B | $8.27B | $7.39B | $5.99B | $6.17B |
| EBITDA | $6.59B | $6.02B | $5.42B | $4.22B | $4.43B |
| Net income | $5.26B | $4.83B | $4.06B | $2.76B | $3.39B |
| Free cash flow | $4.04B | $3.77B | $3.75B | $3.03B | $3.33B |
| Capital expenditure | $475M | $376M | $335M | $277M | $342M |
| Total debt | $5.99B | $6.15B | $6.09B | $6.82B | $6.06B |
The default views of Competitor Analysis ▸ Charts, drawn from the same data. Open them in the cockpit to change the axes, pin companies and read every value.
| Company | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| KLA KLAC | $180B | -26% | +16% | 43% | 22.3× | 23.5% |
| Applied Materials AMAT | $264B | -24% | +8% | 31% | 18.8× | 25.5% |
| Lam Research LRCX | $250B | -32% | +33% | 37% | 19.6× | 26.4% |
| ASML Holding N.V. - New York Re ASML | $574B | -11% | +29% | 39% | 22.4× | 26.4% |
| ONTO ONTO | $8.50B | -39% | +8% | 20% | 16.9× | 29.4% |
| NVMI NVMI | $9.96B | -40% | +16% | 29% | 25.0× | 32.8% |
| Camtek CAMT | $4.53B | -53% | +12% | 23% | 19.6× | 29.7% |
| Lasertec 6920.T | $18.2B | -25% | -19% | 44% | 28.7× | 28.9% |
Peer set: Industry: the same industry and sector in any market, nearest in size. This is the same default set the interactive Competitor Analysis opens with.
| Measure | KLAC | Peer median | Rank in peer set |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-month return | -29.6% | -21.8% | 8th lowest of 21 |
| 6-month return | -25.8% | -14.1% | 5th lowest of 19 |
| Distance from 52-week high | -54.9% | -43.3% | 7th lowest of 21 |
| Revenue growth (TTM) | +15.8% | +23.7% | 7th lowest of 21 |
| Operating margin | 42.7% | 22.6% | 3rd highest of 21 |
| Forward P/E | 22.3× | 24.7× | 8th cheapest of 20 |
| Growth the price implies (Req g, 7 yrs) | 23.5% | 27.8% | 7th least demanding of 16 |
| Growth delivered (Del g) | +14.4% | +13.1% | 8th highest of 16 |
| Hurdle (Req g minus delivered) | +9.0 pp | +12.6 pp | 6th least demanding of 16 |
| ROIC minus cost of capital | +50.9 pp | +3.0 pp | 4th highest of 21 |
| EV / EBITDA | 27.6× | 16.8× | 5th most expensive of 15 |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 0.2× | 0.5× | 7th least indebted of 16 |
| Bond spread | 78 bp | 78 bp | 6th widest of 12 |
| Company | Market | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g | Delivered g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| KLA KLAC | United States | $180B | -26% | +16% | 43% | 22.3× | 23.5% | +14.4% |
| Qualcomm QCOM | United States | $177B | -24% | +2% | 24% | 17.0× | 15.9% | +5.1% |
| Analog Devices ADI | United States | $176B | -13% | +34% | 36% | 22.4× | 27.8% | +14.5% |
| Mediatek 2454.TW | Taiwan | $164B | +7% | +6% | 15% | 24.7× | 40.7% | +13.1% |
| Arm ARM | United States | $204B | -18% | +25% | 17% | 67.7× | n/a | n/a |
| Texas Instruments TXN | United States | $253B | -4% | +20% | 41% | 24.6× | 23.3% | +4.1% |
| Marvell Technology MRVL | United States | $124B | -17% | +31% | 17% | 25.0× | 54.4% | +22.5% |
| Intel INTC | United States | $299B | -55% | +12% | 11% | 39.9× | 46.1% | -7.5% |
| Kioxia 285A.T | Japan | $88.9B | +139% | +265% | 70% | 2.5× | -3.0% | +18.8% |
| Zhongji Innolight 3308.HK | Hong Kong | $80.7B | n/a | +177% | 41% | 16.7× | 27.6% | +39.3% |
| CXMT 688825.SS | China | $411B | n/a | +156% | 13% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| SMIC 0981.HK | Hong Kong | $76.7B | -41% | +20% | 9% | 32.9× | n/a | n/a |
| Cambricon Technologies 688256.SS | China | $75.7B | -30% | +104% | 33% | 87.3× | n/a | n/a |
| Ase Technology 3711.TW | Taiwan | $70.4B | +2% | +25% | 11% | 17.3× | n/a | n/a |
| Infineon Technologies IFX.DE | Germany | $66.8B | -33% | +6% | 13% | 26.0× | 30.2% | +11.3% |
| NXP Semiconductors NXPI | United States | $62.6B | -15% | +15% | 30% | 14.1× | 16.3% | +7.3% |
| TE Connectivity TEL | United States | $59.5B | +1% | +15% | 22% | 15.1× | 8.2% | +5.9% |
| ASML ASML.AS | Netherlands | $550B | -6% | +23% | 39% | 31.1× | 28.9% | +18.5% |
| Monolithic Power Systems MPWR | United States | $58.1B | -26% | +40% | 30% | 28.3× | 39.6% | +27.0% |
| SK hynix 000660.KS | South Korea | $608B | -12% | +220% | 74% | 3.1× | -3.1% | +24.9% |
| SamsungElecMech 009150.KS | South Korea | $47.2B | +5% | +22% | 12% | 38.7× | 42.8% | +7.9% |
KLA has 8 bonds outstanding with $5.95B face value. The agencies rate it A; its bonds trade like A-. Weighted yield 5.74%, a spread of 78 bp over government bonds.
KLA reported $7.86B of remaining performance obligations at 30 Jun 2025, down 20% from a year earlier and down 12% from the previous quarter. That is 0.6 years of trailing revenue already under contract. Book-to-bill last quarter: 0.67.