Key Takeaways for KLA Stock as of July 2026
- Record Quarter: Revenue hit $3.66B, up 15% YoY, with EPS of $1.05 beating guidance.
- WFE Outlook Raised: Management lifted its calendar 2026 wafer equipment forecast to the low $150B range, up from a prior $140B+ view, and guided September quarter revenue to $4B, plus or minus $200M.
- Packaging Breakout: Up more than 70% YoY, advanced packaging process control revenue is now tracking toward $1.1B in 2026, nearly 2x the market’s own growth rate.
- Backlog Climbing: CFO Bren Higgins pegged backlog at ~$12.5B heading into the 10-Q filing, and CEO Rick Wallace told investors on the call, “we expect momentum across our business to accelerate through the second half of calendar 2026.”
KLA Corporation Stock Hits a Record Quarter as AI Capacity Constraints Finally Ease
KLA Corporation (KLAC) closed its fiscal fourth quarter with the kind of print that ends a running debate over whether capacity limits were finally catching up to demand. Revenue reached a record $3.66 billion in the June quarter, up 15% year over year and 7% sequentially, above the midpoint of the company’s own guidance of $3.575 billion. Non-GAAP diluted earnings per share landed at $1.05 and GAAP diluted EPS at $1.04, both at the top of their guided ranges. Effective June 11, 2026, KLA completed a 10-for-1 stock split, and every per-share figure on the call reflects that adjustment. KLA stock reflects that momentum, trading near its highs as investors weigh how much of the acceleration is already priced in.
Gross margin came in at 62.4%, itself at the high end of guidance, even as CFO Bren Higgins acknowledged a persistent squeeze from memory pricing. Operating margin reached 43.7%, and incremental operating margin, the rate at which new revenue converts to operating profit, hit 59% for the quarter. Non-GAAP net income totaled $1.39 billion against GAAP net income of $1.36 billion, while free cash flow came in at $817 million against operating cash flow of $906 million. KLA still returned $876 million to shareholders, split between $571 million in buybacks and $305 million in dividends, pushing trailing twelve-month capital returns to $3.3 billion against a free cash flow margin of 28%.
The bigger signal sat in the outlook. Management raised its calendar 2026 wafer fab equipment (WFE) forecast to the low $150 billion range, up from a prior view of $140 billion-plus, implying mid-to-high 20% growth over the roughly $120 billion spent in 2025. September quarter revenue is guided to $4 billion, plus or minus $200 million, with gross margin expected at 62.5%, plus or minus one point, and non-GAAP EPS of $1.16, plus or minus $0.10. Backlog is tracking toward approximately $12.5 billion heading into the company’s 10-Q filing.
Advanced packaging process control, where KLA inspects the increasingly complex stacks used in chip-on-chip integration, is now expected to generate approximately $1.1 billion in 2026 revenue, up more than 70% year over year and nearly double the packaging market’s own growth rate.
That acceleration, layered on rising hybrid bonding adoption and high-bandwidth memory (HBM) intensity, is what gives management its confidence heading into next year. CEO Rick Wallace put it directly on the Q4 earnings call: “We expect momentum across our business to accelerate through the second half of calendar 2026 and for significant growth to continue in calendar 2027.” Second-half calendar 2026 revenue is now guided to grow approximately 20% over the first half.
TIKR Values KLA Stock at $278, Pricing In an Accelerating AI Buildout
TIKR’s mid case model values KLA stock at $278 by 2030, implying a 46% total return from the current price of $191, or 10% annualized over 3.9 years.
That annualized pace puts KLA stock’s expected return well inside what investors already pay for a semiconductor capital equipment franchise compounding at this margin structure, without requiring any further expansion of the multiple.
The target rests on the same dynamics management laid out on the call: a wafer fab equipment market moving toward the low $150 billion range in 2026, paired with a backlog near $12.5 billion that keeps climbing on the back of an advanced packaging business growing more than 70% a year. That combination is what closes the gap between KLA stock’s current price and the earnings power the model expects the business to reach by 2030.
Should You Invest in KLA Corporation?
The only way to really know is to look at the numbers yourself. TIKR gives you free access to the same institutional-quality financial data that professional analysts use to answer exactly that question.
Pull up KLA Corporation stock and you’ll see years of historical financials, what Wall Street analysts expect for revenue and earnings in the quarters ahead, how valuation multiples have moved over time, and whether price targets are trending up or down.
You can build a free watchlist to track KLA Corporation alongside every other stock on your radar. No credit card required. Just the data you need to decide for yourself.
Access Professional Tools to Analyze KLAC stock on TIKR for Free →
Looking for New Opportunities?
- See what stocks billionaire investors are buying so you can follow the smart money.
- Analyze stocks in as little as 5 minutes with TIKR’s all-in-one, easy-to-use platform.
- The more rocks you overturn… the more opportunities you’ll uncover. Search 100K+ global stocks, global top investor holdings, and more with TIKR.
Disclaimer:
Please note that the articles on TIKR are not intended to serve as investment or financial advice from TIKR or our content team, nor are they recommendations to buy or sell any stocks. We create our content based on TIKR Terminal’s investment data and analysts’ estimates. Our analysis might not include recent company news or important updates. TIKR has no position in any stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading, and happy investing!
