KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Releases Q4 2024 Earnings Guidance

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) updated its fourth quarter 2024 earnings guidance on Thursday. The company provided earnings per share guidance of 5.470-6.670 for the period, compared to the consensus earnings per share estimate of 5.680. The company issued revenue guidance of $2.4 billion-$2.6 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $2.4 billion. KLA also updated its Q4 guidance to $5.47-6.67 EPS.

KLA Stock Performance

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

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The semiconductor company reported $5.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.94 by $0.32. KLA had a net margin of 27.19% and a return on equity of 103.31%. The company had revenue of $2.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.31 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $5.49 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that KLA will post 22.61 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on KLAC shares. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of KLA from $685.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of KLA from $605.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Susquehanna reaffirmed a neutral rating and set a $675.00 target price on shares of KLA in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of KLA from $740.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on KLA from $550.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an underweight rating in a research report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $720.42.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,018 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was 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 directly owns 32,375 shares in the company, valued at $22,825,670. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,922 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,809,017.70. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,018 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $705.04, for a total value of $4,947,970.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 32,375 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,825,670. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

KLA Company Profile

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.