KLA Corp. (NASDAQ:KLAC) stock rose nearly 3% Tuesday as semiconductor-equipment stocks participated in a broader technology rebound, while investors continued to assess the company’s earnings beat, stronger December-quarter outlook and growing exposure to AI, memory and advanced packaging.
Technology stocks gained about 1.4%, while the S&P 500 rose 0.3%.
KLA Beats Q1 Expectations
Last week., KLA reported fiscal first-quarter adjusted EPS of $1.22, topping the $1.18 consensus, while revenue increased to $4.14 billion from $3.21 billion a year earlier and exceeded the $4.04 billion estimate.
CEO Rick Wallace said results surpassed the midpoint of KLA’s guidance across key metrics as growth accelerated during the second half of 2026.
AI-related demand for leading-edge semiconductors and advanced packaging helped drive growth. KLA expects advanced-packaging process-control revenue to reach approximately $1.1 billion in 2026, growing nearly twice as fast as the overall market.
Services revenue increased 14% year over year to $850 million, supported by higher utilization and a larger installed base.
December Outlook Comes In Above Estimates
For the December quarter, KLA expects revenue of $4.5 billion-$4.9 billion, compared with the $4.54 billion consensus.
Adjusted EPS guidance of $1.33-$1.55 brackets the $1.38 analyst estimate.
Management expects second-half 2026 revenue to run about 25% above the first half as supply-chain capacity improves.
KLA forecasts the wafer-fab-equipment market, including advanced packaging, in the mid-$150 billion range in 2026 and above $200 billion in 2027.
CFO Bren Higgins expects sequential growth during 2027, supported by leading-edge foundry and logic investment, new DRAM capacity, HBM demand and advanced packaging.
The stock is up over 28% in 2026 versus the PHLX Semiconductor Index’s over 505 returns.
Analysts Stay Constructive, But Forecasts Diverge
JPMorgan analyst Harlan Sur maintained Overweight and raised his price forecast to $240 from $238.
Citigroup analyst Atif Malik maintained Buy but lowered his forecast to $275 from $290, while Wells Fargo analyst Joseph Quatrochi kept an Overweight rating and cut his forecast to $210 from $245.
Cantor Fitzgerald analyst C.J. Muse maintained Overweight but reduced his forecast to $225 from $325.
Susquehanna analyst Mehdi Hosseini maintained Neutral and lowered his forecast to $190 from $215. He expects wafer-fab-equipment spending to grow by well over 10% annually and reach an annualized run rate near $300 billion by the end of 2028, although he expects KLA to grow more slowly than the broader industry.
A Morgan Stanley analyst became more constructive on memory after discussions with Higgins, highlighting KLA’s expectation that memory could represent 40% of its product mix in 2027.
The analyst said stronger DRAM pricing, larger HBM dies and greater logic integration are increasing demand for process-control equipment.
Cramer Remains Cautious On The Group
Jim Cramer said he currently prefers Lam Research Corp. (NASDAQ:LRCX) over KLA and cautioned against buying semiconductor-equipment stocks while the group remains in a sharp selloff.
ETF Exposure
KLA carries meaningful weights in the VanEck Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ:SMH) at 4.42%, iShares Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ:SOXX) at 3.98% and Invesco Semiconductors ETF (NYSE:PSI) at 4.92%.
Significant inflows or outflows in those funds could translate into corresponding buying or selling of KLA shares.
KLAC Stock Price Activity: KLA shares were up 2.89% at $157.54 at the time of publication on Tuesday, according to Benzinga Pro data.
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