KLAC vs. AMAT, LRCX, ENTG, ONTO, MKSI, AMKR, FORM, AEIS, ACLS, and VECO
Should you be buying KLA stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of KLA include Applied Materials (AMAT), Lam Research (LRCX), Entegris (ENTG), Onto Innovation (ONTO), MKS Instruments (MKSI), Amkor Technology (AMKR), FormFactor (FORM), Advanced Energy Industries (AEIS), Axcelis Technologies (ACLS), and Veeco Instruments (VECO). These companies are all part of the "semiconductor equipment" industry.
Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) and KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) are both large-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, risk, community ranking, dividends, media sentiment, valuation, analyst recommendations and profitability.
Applied Materials pays an annual dividend of $1.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. KLA pays an annual dividend of $5.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. Applied Materials pays out 18.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. KLA pays out 30.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Applied Materials has raised its dividend for 7 consecutive years and KLA has raised its dividend for 14 consecutive years. KLA is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.
Applied Materials received 1118 more outperform votes than KLA when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 72.11% of users gave Applied Materials an outperform vote while only 62.65% of users gave KLA an outperform vote.
80.6% of Applied Materials shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 86.7% of KLA shares are held by institutional investors. 0.3% of Applied Materials shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of KLA shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Applied Materials has higher revenue and earnings than KLA. Applied Materials is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than KLA, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Applied Materials presently has a consensus price target of $215.64, indicating a potential upside of 0.26%. KLA has a consensus price target of $727.15, indicating a potential downside of 4.26%. Given KLA's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Applied Materials is more favorable than KLA.
In the previous week, Applied Materials had 14 more articles in the media than KLA. MarketBeat recorded 25 mentions for Applied Materials and 11 mentions for KLA. Applied Materials' average media sentiment score of 0.84 beat KLA's score of 0.75 indicating that KLA is being referred to more favorably in the news media.
Applied Materials has a beta of 1.58, suggesting that its share price is 58% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, KLA has a beta of 1.33, suggesting that its share price is 33% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Applied Materials has a net margin of 27.57% compared to Applied Materials' net margin of 27.19%. Applied Materials' return on equity of 102.37% beat KLA's return on equity.
Summary
Applied Materials beats KLA on 13 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.
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This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding KLAC and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
This chart shows the average media sentiment of NASDAQ and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
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