BN · rank #13 · 2026-10-19
KLAC
NASDAQ · $216.29B (USD)
The exact numbers the algorithm saw.
| Composite score Z-score blend of the factors below; drives the rank. | 0.32 |
|---|---|
| Forward revenue growth Consensus forward revenue growth. | +18.9% |
| Forward net margin Consensus forward net margin. | +37.1% |
| Net margin TTM Trailing twelve month net margin. | +35.6% |
| Margin expansion Forward minus trailing net margin (percentage points). | +1.5% |
| Forward PEG Forward P/E to growth. Below 1 is cheap for the growth. | 1.80 |
| Debt / FCF Net debt relative to free cash flow. Lower is safer. | 1.63× |
| Analyst upside Spread between the consensus 12m target and the current price. | +40.4% |
| Last EPS surprise Most recent reported EPS versus consensus. | +5% |
| Market cap (USD) | $216.29B |
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 provider of process-control inspection and metrology systems for leading-edge semiconductor manufacturing, serving foundry, logic, memory, and advanced-packaging customers globally.
Rationale
KLA is a structural bottleneck solver — process-control intensity rises with each node shrink and advanced-packaging layer, advanced-packaging revenue is up 70%+ YoY to ~$1.1B in 2026, and Q1 FY2027 guidance of ~$4.0B implies accelerating revenue growth directly tied to AI-infrastructure capex.
Material risks
- 1Highly concentrated customer base means a single large foundry or HBM customer delaying, canceling, or internalizing process-control steps could materially impair near-term revenue visibility, which is the core vulnerability in a bottleneck-solver thesis.
- 2U.S. export controls on China sales represent a realized, ongoing revenue ceiling — not a forward-looking worry — that caps KLA's addressable market and introduces binary policy risk on a meaningful revenue segment.
AI verdict council
Each pick is reviewed independently by 3 models before any order. 3 of 3 voted to proceed.