On January 13, TD Cowen analyst Krish Sankar upgraded KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) stock from Hold to Buy. The price target was raised to $1,800.00 from $1,300.00.
Firm analysts have raised their calendar year 2027 earnings per share estimate to $50. This estimate sits above Street expectations. The price target lift is driven by this higher earnings estimate.
According to the firm's updated wafer fabrication equipment analysis, leading-edge foundry spending is anticipated to be the fastest-growing segment in the semiconductor equipment market. This segment has a projected calendar year 2026-2027 compound annual growth rate of 20%, compared to 15% for memory. The growth is led by TSMC and Samsung's foundry operations.
Krish Sankar stated, "With attention centered on memory WFE amid rising DRAM/NAND pricing, our updated WFE work points to leading-edge foundry as the fastest-growing pocket of spend on a CY26–27 CAGR basis (20% vs 15% for memory), led by TSMC (& Samsung foundry based on their TSLA execution). We are upgrading KLAC from Hold to Buy & increasing our PT to $1,800 (36x our new CY27 estimates of ~$50, vs Street's $44)."
KLA Corporation is a semiconductor manufacturing corporation. It is engaged in the design, manufacture, and marketing of process control, process-enabling, and yield management solutions for the semiconductor and related electronics industries worldwide.