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KLAC — KLA Corporation

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2. Company Fundamentals

2.1 Competitiveness

Metric Value
Operating Margins 41.22%
Profit Margins 35.66%
Return on Equity 94.98%
Return on Assets 21.28%
Free Float 0.13B
Dividend Yield 0.36%
Short Int % Utilisation 2.99%

2.2 Growth

Metric Value
Revenue Growth 11.5%
Free Cash Flow 2.89B
EBITDA 47.89 (Ratio)
Enterprise Value 280.16B
EV/Revenue 21.39
EV/EBITDA 47.89

Revenue growth of 11.5% indicates steady, moderate expansion.

2.3 Management

Role Metric
Consensus Rating N/A

2.4 Return

Metric Value
Expected Return (Ann.)* 181.52%
Risk / Std Dev (Ann.)* 59.43%
1-Year Price Return* 134.34%

Latest Market Data (as of 2026-08-14, US Eastern time):

Metric Value
Last Price $203.72
52-Week Range $83.22 – $307.37
Observation Count 251 trading days

The return and risk statistics use daily adjusted closes from the retrieved one-year series and annualise daily moments using 252 trading days. The last price is the latest regular-market price reported for the stated date. Source: Yahoo Finance market data.

DuPont Model Analysis

The DuPont model decomposes return on equity (ROE) into three operating and capital-structure drivers:

ROE = Net Margin × Asset Turnover × Equity Multiplier

The comparison uses the latest two comparable annual periods available for the issuer, with reported statement amounts shown in US$. Revenue and net income are income-statement flows; total assets and shareholders’ equity are year-end balance-sheet figures. This is a simplified year-end-balance DuPont comparison rather than an average-balance ROE calculation.

DuPont component Calculation FY2026 FY2025
Revenue Reported revenue $13.58B $12.16B
Net income Reported net income $4.83B $4.06B
Total assets Year-end reported balance $17.95B $16.07B
Shareholders’ equity Year-end reported balance $6.35B $4.69B
Net margin Net income ÷ revenue 35.57% 33.41%
Asset turnover Revenue ÷ total assets 0.7565x 0.7565x
Equity multiplier Total assets ÷ shareholders’ equity 2.8271x 3.4242x
ROE Net margin × asset turnover × equity multiplier 76.08% 86.56%

Source: Yahoo Finance annual statements. Values are based on the two latest comparable annual periods returned by the source; fiscal period labels use the statement period-end year.

2.5 FCFF DCF Valuation

Valuation basis: This research model follows a five-year, unlevered FCFF DCF. It starts from reported annual operating inputs, forecasts revenue and operating cash conversion under an explicit mechanical policy, discounts FCFF at WACC, applies a Gordon-growth terminal value, and bridges enterprise value to an indicative common-equity value per share. It is an analytical estimate rather than a recommendation or personalised target price.

Step 1 — Forecast Operating Profit and NOPAT

Reported operating input Value
Revenue $13.58B
Prior annual revenue $12.16B
EBIT $5.89B
Tax rate 13.80%
NOPAT = EBIT × (1 − tax rate) $5.08B
Forecast start-growth basis 11.71%
Forecast policy latest reported annual revenue growth, bounded to -10.00% / 15.00%

Step 2 — Calculate FCFF

Current FCFF building block Value
NOPAT $5.08B
Add: depreciation & amortisation $393.98M
Less: capital expenditure -$375.94M
Less/(add): working-capital cash-flow movement -$1.48B
Current unlevered FCFF $3.62B

Explicit FCFF forecast

Forecast year Revenue growth NOPAT D&A Capex Change in NWC FCFF Present value
1 11.71% $5.67B $440.11M -$419.96M -$1.65B $4.04B $3.81B
2 9.41% $6.21B $481.51M -$464.98M -$1.80B $4.42B $3.70B
3 7.10% $6.65B $515.71M -$503.91M -$1.93B $4.73B $3.52B
4 4.80% $6.97B $540.48M -$534.29M -$2.02B $4.95B $3.27B
5 2.50% $7.14B $553.99M -$553.99M -$2.08B $5.06B $2.98B

Step 3 — Determine the Discount Rate (WACC)

WACC input Value
Risk-free rate 4.71%
Equity risk premium assumption 5.50%
Beta 1.46
Cost of equity 12.73%
Pre-tax cost of debt 4.65%
WACC 12.52%
WACC validation within standard range

Step 4 — Estimate Terminal Value

Terminal-value input Value
Perpetuity growth rate 2.50%
Terminal value $51.79B
Implied terminal EV / EBITDA 5.86x
Terminal value as % of enterprise value 62.42%

Step 5 — Discount Cash Flows to Enterprise Value

Enterprise-value component Value
Present value of explicit FCFF $17.28B
Present value of terminal value $28.71B
Indicated enterprise value $45.99B
Discounting convention mid-year for explicit FCFF; terminal value discounted at year-end five

Step 6 — Convert Enterprise Value to Equity Value

Equity bridge Value
Indicated enterprise value $45.99B
Less: gross interest-bearing debt $6.15B
Add: cash and equivalents $4.90B
Add: affiliate investments $0.00
Less: minority interests $0.00
Indicated common equity value $44.74B

Step 7 — Calculate Indicative Value Per Share

Per-share output Value
Shares used 1,319,633,000.00
Share-count basis reported diluted weighted-average shares
Current market price $194.23
DCF indicative value per share $33.90
Indicative value vs. market price -82.54%

Model Integrity Checks

Check Result
Perpetuity growth is below the risk-free rate pass
Perpetuity growth is below WACC pass
WACC is within the configured operating-company range pass
Terminal-year FCFF is positive pass
Terminal capex converges to D&A pass
Terminal-value concentration within review band
Implied price differs from spot by more than 30% review required

2.6 Investor-Style Research Screen

Educational screen Result
Buffett-inspired cash-quality checks 3/4 evidenced checks
Lynch-inspired balance-and-growth checks 4/4 evidenced checks

Data lineage: Yahoo Finance public market and reported-statement data; retrieval timestamp: 2026-08-18 17:39:27.955951 UTC; latest reported fiscal period: 2026-06-30 00:00:00. Default assumptions: five-year forecast, mid-year discounting for explicit FCFF, a maximum 2.50% perpetuity-growth rate below both WACC and the risk-free rate, historical operating-ratio persistence, and capex convergence to D&A by year five. No sell-side consensus or management guidance is substituted for reported inputs. This is research and analysis only, not personalized financial advice.

2.7 Quantitative Factor Diagnostics

Model basis: Daily issuer USD excess returns are regressed in-sample using ordinary least squares on matching regional Fama–French factors. FF3 estimates market, size, and value loadings; FF5 adds profitability and investment. Coefficients are descriptive historical exposures, not predictions.

Estimation input Value
Regional factor set US
Factor-return currency USD
Issuer-return basis USD adjusted total return
Estimation window 2025-08-19 to 2026-06-30
Aligned daily observations 217
Minimum observation requirement 120
Currency conversion for HK listings not required

Fama–French Three-Factor and Five-Factor Results

Diagnostic FF3 FF5
Annualised alpha 176.00% 105.24%
Adjusted R² 0.40 0.46
Annualised residual volatility 43.11% 40.75%
Factor loading (t-statistic) FF3 FF5
Market excess return (Mkt-RF) 2.94 (11.60) 2.36 (8.54)
Size (SMB) -0.69 (-2.01) -1.06 (-3.03)
Value (HML) 0.71 (2.39) 0.88 (2.55)
Profitability (RMW) NM -1.47 (-5.01)
Investment (CMA) NM 0.35 (0.70)

Definitions: Mkt-RF is the market return less the risk-free rate; SMB is small minus big; HML is high minus low book-to-market; RMW is robust minus weak profitability; CMA is conservative minus aggressive investment. Factor returns are sourced from the Kenneth R. French Data Library; issuer adjusted-return history is sourced from Yahoo Finance. For Hong Kong listings, adjusted HKD prices are converted into USD with daily USD/HKD closes before return calculation to match the USD regional factor basis. This is an in-sample historical regression; coefficients and t-statistics do not establish causation or predict future returns. This is research and analysis only, not personalized financial advice.

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