KLAC US S&P 500NASDAQ-100Russell 1000 Earnings call
KLA Corporation (KLAC) · Q2 2026 results and valuation
Share price: $161.01 · 2026-11-11
KLA Corporation supplies equipment and services for the electronics industry, including process control and manufacturing solutions for wafers, integrated circuits, and printed circuit boards. The company serves manufacturers of semiconductors, chemicals, and electronic devices across global markets. Its products are used to improve production yields and manage manufacturing processes for high-volume production. Source: 10-K annual report (2026-08-06)
Results Q2 2026 vs Q1 2026 · previous quarter · fiscal Q4 2026 · published 28 Jul 2026 and 29 Apr 2026
Net income up 13.5% on the previous quarter. Management sounded upbeat, though noticeably less so answering analysts.
1 · Numbers
+13.5%
Net income vs Q1 2026
Outlook given
Net income 1.36B vs 1.20B
Revenue +7.1%
Against the same quarter last year (Q2 2025) it is +13.3%, so it is not just seasonal.
Why Against the same quarter last year (+13.3%), net income rose because revenue reached a record $3.66 billion supported by accelerating investment tied to AI infrastructure, continued strength in leading-edge foundry/logic, and increasing process control intensity across memory and advanced packaging.
2 · How management spoke
Upbeat
More upbeat than 88% of company calls
Answers to analysts: typical, but clearly less so than the script.
Last call it was different: the answers were more upbeat than the script.
3 · What stood out
KLA raised its 2026 advanced packaging process control systems revenue growth forecast to over 70% to approximately $1.1 billion, surpassing its prior expectation of high 50% growth.
Valuation
Is KLA Corporation undervalued?
Reverse DCF. Free cash flow from the last full fiscal year (2026-06-30), grown for 10 years, discounted back, plus a terminal value. “Implied growth” is the rate the current price assumes.
At 9.0% growth a year (3-year revenue growth), the model's fair value is $62.43 a share — the stock trades 158% above it. Today's price assumes 21.8% growth a year.
Current price
$161.01
close of 2026-11-11
Market implies growth of iThe yearly free-cash-flow growth, for the next 10 years, that today’s share price already assumes. If you believe the company grows faster than this, the stock is cheap under this model; slower, and it is expensive.
+21.8% for 10 yrs
Fair value / share
$62.43
Buy below
$46.82
Price vs fair value
Overvalued 158%
Price vs buy-below price
Overvalued >200%
Management expects
Revenue +70% · from the Q2 2026 report: “KLAC raised its 2026 advanced packaging process control systems revenue growth forecast to over 70% to approximately $1.1 billion, surpassing its prior…”
A guidance figure for revenue, usually one year ahead, not a 10-year free-cash-flow rate.
Read between the lines
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Guidance
KLAC raised its 2026 advanced packaging process control systems revenue growth forecast to over 70% to approximately $1.1 billion, surpassing its prior expectation of high 50% growth.
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Guidance
KLA provided September quarter revenue guidance of $4 billion, plus or minus $200 million.
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Guidance
The gross margin for the September quarter is forecasted to be 62.5%, plus or minus 1 percentage point.
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Key theme
KLAC raised its 2026 wafer equipment market expectation to the low $150 billion range from its previous estimate of $140 billion plus.
Source quote
“As a result, we're raising our expectation for the wafer equipment market, including advanced packaging, to approximately the low $150 billion range in calendar 2026, up from our prior expectation of $140 billion plus and mid-20% growth above the approximate $120 billion level in calendar 2025.”
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Figure
Revenue reached a record $3.66 billion, driven by investments in AI infrastructure, foundry and logic markets, and increased process control intensity in memory and advanced packaging.
Source quote
“Specifically, revenue reached a record $3.66 billion, supported by accelerating investment tied to AI infrastructure, continued strength in leading-edge foundry/logic, and increasing process control intensity across memory and advanced packaging.”
3 more
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Guidance
KLAC established a new long-term target model for service growth of 13% to 15% as discussed at Investor Day.
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Figure
KLA Corporation expects overall gross margins for 2026 to be approximately 62% plus or minus.
Source quote
“We talked about 2026 overall gross margins likely being in the 62%, plus or minus.”
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Guidance
KLAC expects business momentum to accelerate through the second half of calendar 2026 and significant growth to continue in calendar 2027.
Source quote
“We anticipate this resulting in second half of calendar 2026 growth for KLA over the first half to be approximately 20% and positioning the company for continued sequential growth into calendar 2027.”
Tone
How upbeat the language was, compared with other companiesiTone counts positive minus negative finance words, adjusted for length. Executives mostly speak positively, so the labels compare each call with every company's latest call: “typical” is the middle third, “very upbeat” the top tenth, “cautious” the bottom tenth.. Dot: Q2 2026. Ring: Q1 2026.
Management sounded noticeably less positive answering analysts than in its prepared script — a bigger drop than in 86% of calls. Scripts are polished in advance; a drop under questioning often marks the topics analysts pressed on, so the answers deserve a closer read than the script.
Sentences that drove the tone
“Against this backdrop, KLA's business momentum and critical role in leading-edge process control positions us to deliver accelerating growth in the second half of calendar '26 and continued strong growth...”
“KLA remains uniquely positioned on the critical path of AI infrastructure expansion, where the increasing number and sophistication of leading-edge designs that are consuming a growing percentage of new wafer...”
“KLA's June quarter results reflect strong sequential and year-over-year growth in an industry-leading profitability profile.”
Full figures
USD · SEC EDGAR XBRL (10-Q, period end 2026-06-30)
| Metric | Q2 2026period end 2026-06-30 | Q1 2026period end 2026-03-31 | Change | Q2 2025 | YoY |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | 3.66B | 3.42B | +7.1% | 3.17B | +15.2% |
| Gross profit | 2.24B | 2.09B | +7.5% | 1.97B | +14.1% |
| Operating income | 1.55B | 1.42B | +9.4% | 1.33B | +16.6% |
| Net income | 1.36B | 1.20B | +13.5% | 1.20B | +13.3% |
| EPS | -22.60 | 9.12 | Turned loss | -18.28 | Loss widened |
| P/E today 34.7 | 82.4 | 18.5 | +63.9 | 29.5 | +52.9 |
Topics
Most discussed now
- New The industry is in a period of accelerating investment driven by AI compute, a robust design environment, larger and more...
- These results continue to underscore KLA's market leadership and the growing strategic importance of process control as semiconductor…
- The rapid expansion of the AI ecosystem requires more advanced logic and memory, new complex manufacturing and packaging flows, and...
- Given how quickly the industry turned and started to ramp, KLA did, as it talked about in the past, deal...
- For all those reasons, KLA is seeing even across some of its products where it is seeing intensity levels that are rivaling...
Faded since Q1 2026
- Fading KLA expects its semiconductor process control systems business to outperform the wafer equipment market in 2026 driven by rising process...
- Fading While the memory pricing environment remains challenging in the near term, KLA has secured the required supply to meet its...
- Fading The strength of demand and customer engagement and ensuring KLA has the capacity to support numerous new fab projects currently...
- Fading Consistent long-term growth in service is a key aspect of KLA's business model and delivers predictable cash flow to anchor...
Latest announcements
Official filings, newest first. Summaries are generated from each filing and its attachment; every figure is checked against the source.
- Shareholder vote results; Other events · SEC 8-K
- Results of operations · SEC 8-K
- Other events · SEC 8-K
KLA Corporation declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.23 per share, payable on September 1, 2026, to stockholders of record as of August 17, 2026.
- Results of operations · SEC 8-K
KLA Corporation reported total revenues of $3.66 billion for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2026, compared to $3.175 billion in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2025.
- Articles or bylaws amended · SEC 8-K · routine
- Other events · SEC 8-K
KLA Corporation announced a ten-for-one forward stock split and a quarterly dividend of $2.30 per share, which is a 21% increase over the dividend announced on March 12, 2026.
- Results of operations · SEC 8-K
KLA Corporation reported total revenues of $3.415 billion and GAAP diluted EPS of $9.12 for the third quarter of fiscal 2026, compared to $3.063 million in revenue and $8.16 EPS in the same period of fiscal 2025.
- Regulation FD disclosure; Other events · SEC 8-K
KLA Corporation established a quarterly dividend of $2.30 per share on March 11, 2026, and hosted an investor day on March 12, 2026.
Catalyst calendar
management-stated targets — from the latest earnings call; plans, not promises.
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second half of calendar 2026
momentum across our business to accelerate
Source quote
“We expect momentum across our business to accelerate through the second half of calendar 2026 and for significant growth to continue in calendar 2027.”
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calendar 2026
advanced packaging process control systems revenue to grow to approximately $1.1 billion
Source quote
“We now expect our advanced packaging process control systems revenue to grow to approximately $1.1 billion in calendar 2026, up more than 70% year-over-year, above our prior expectation of high 50% growth and almost 2x faster than the advanced packaging market.”
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calendar 2026
combined products expected to grow over 25%
Source quote
“With these combined products expected to grow over 25% in calendar 2026, we are encouraged by the future opportunities in these markets.”
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remainder of calendar 2026 and into calendar 2027
well positioned to execute in the strong demand environment across all segments
Source quote
“Growth is accelerating in the second half, and we're well positioned to execute in the strong demand environment across all segments over the remainder of calendar 2026 and into calendar 2027.”
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next several years
expected aggregate investment in wafer equipment
Source quote
“Given the expected aggregate investment in wafer equipment over the next several years, our expectation is that these investments will continue to ensure that the company is positioned to take advantage of the strong market opportunity and deliver on our customer commitments.”