Investing.com -- KLA Corporation reported better-than-expected fiscal second-quarter results despite the challenging backdrop following the U.S. government's chip export controls.
KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) was up 2% in premarket trading Friday.
KLA-Tencor announced earnings per share of $8.2 on revenue of $3.08 billion. Analysts polled by Investing.com anticipated EPS of $7.75 on revenue of $2.94B.
Looking ahead to Q3, the company forecast revenue of $3.0B, give or take $150M, beating consensus of $2.88B, while adjusted EPS was guided in a range of $8.05, five to take $0.60, compared with consensus estimates of $7.47.
"KLA's December quarter results were above the midpoint of our guidance ranges despite navigating through the business impact of new U.S. government export controls released late in the quarter," the company said on Thursday.
Needham&Co. analysts lifted their KLAC price target to $830 from $800, maintaining a Buy rating after the report.
"We think KLAC's stability and risk outlook provides a better risk/reward in this WFE environment," analysts said.
Separately, Cantor Fitzgerald analysts hiked their KLAC target price to $875 from $800, but maintained a more cautious stance, reiterating a Neutral rating "given greater upside elsewhere" in the Semiconductor Production Equipment (SPE) sector.
However, "if you were to assume better than 10% growth in CY26 and/or be willing to pay 24-25x multiple, then upside could look closer to $900-950," they added.
Yasin Ebrahim contributed to this report.
