KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Releases Q4 Earnings Guidance

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) updated its fourth quarter earnings guidance on Thursday. The company provided EPS guidance of $5.47-6.67 for the period, compared to the consensus EPS 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.

KLA Stock Performance

NASDAQ KLAC traded up $33.31 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $706.26. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,193,523 shares, compared to its average volume of 821,545. The company has a market cap of $95.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 1.91 and a quick ratio of 1.25. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $685.41 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $599.79. KLA has a 12 month low of $369.00 and a 12 month high of $729.15.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The semiconductor company reported $5.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.94 by $0.32. The company had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.31 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 103.31% and a net margin of 27.19%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $5.49 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that KLA will post 22.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Investors of record on Monday, February 19th were paid a $1.45 dividend. This represents a $5.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. KLA’s payout ratio is currently 30.38%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on KLAC shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on KLA from $692.00 to $698.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Friday. UBS Group upped their price target on KLA from $605.00 to $760.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a hold rating on shares of KLA in a research note on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of KLA from $760.00 to $805.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of KLA from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $720.42.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other KLA news, EVP Oreste Donzella sold 3,257 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $697.85, for a total value of $2,272,897.45. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,922 shares in the company, valued at $11,809,017.70. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Oreste Donzella sold 3,257 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $697.85, for a total transaction of $2,272,897.45. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,809,017.70. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,018 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

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.