Why KLA's Stock Crashed Today

2026-01-30 12:07:55 ET

Shares of KLA Corporation (NASDAQ: KLAC) were down 11.5% as of this writing, near 11:00 a.m. ET on Friday. The maker of equipment used to manufacture semiconductors reported second-quarter earnings last night. Investors were not impressed, even though the results exceeded Wall Street's consensus projections.

The average analyst firm had expected adjusted earnings of roughly $8.80 per share on revenue near $3.25 billion. Sales rose 7.1% year over year to $3.30 billion, while earnings jumped 41% to $8.85 per diluted share. Looking ahead, the midpoints of management's guidance ranges for the next quarter were slightly above the current Street view.

But investors shrugged off the rosy results to focus on KLA's challenges instead. On the earnings call , CFO Bren Higgins warned that equipment delivery lead times are longer than usual due to component shortages. Tariff expenses are also weighing on the bottom line, and the company has difficulty keeping up with strong demand for memory-chip manufacturing tools.

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