BN · rank #4 · 2026-07-24
KLAC
NASDAQ · $285.72B (USD)
The exact numbers the algorithm saw.
| Composite score Z-score blend of the factors below; drives the rank. | 0.82 |
|---|---|
| Forward revenue growth Consensus forward revenue growth. | +27.3% |
| Forward net margin Consensus forward net margin. | +38.8% |
| Net margin TTM Trailing twelve month net margin. | +35.7% |
| Margin expansion Forward minus trailing net margin (percentage points). | +3.1% |
| Forward PEG Forward P/E to growth. Below 1 is cheap for the growth. | 2.21 |
| Debt / FCF Net debt relative to free cash flow. Lower is safer. | 1.53× |
| Analyst upside Spread between the consensus 12m target and the current price. | +7.0% |
| Last EPS surprise Most recent reported EPS versus consensus. | +2% |
| Market cap (USD) | $285.72B |
The AI research card
Independent qualitative review of each pick before the order is placed. On the rare day the research service is unavailable, the paper book trades on the quant ranking alone and no card appears here.
Summary
KLA Corporation is the dominant semiconductor process control equipment supplier, providing inspection and metrology tools critical for yield at advanced nodes, high-bandwidth memory, and advanced packaging.
Rationale
KLA's effective sole-source status in key inspection segments, deep customer process integration, and management's guided high-teens fiscal 2026 revenue growth driven by AI chip packaging and HBM directly reinforce the bottleneck-solver thesis with structural rather than sentiment-driven demand.
Material risks
- 1Leading foundry and memory customers (TSMC, Samsung, SK Hynix) developing in-house inspection/metrology capabilities or qualifying a credible second source would directly erode KLA's sole-supplier pricing power and multi-quarter order visibility.
- 2Escalating U.S. export controls targeting advanced-node and HBM equipment sales to China could abruptly remove a meaningful revenue contributor and compress near-term growth toward the lower bound of management's guidance range, with Q4 2026 results (July 28) as the next binary event.
AI verdict council
Each pick is reviewed independently by 3 models before any order. 2 of 3 voted to proceed.