KLA-Tencor Corporation (NASDAQ : KLAC)
KLA-Tencor Corporation (KLAC), a leading provider of process control and yield management solutions company yesterday announced positive results for its first quarter of fiscal year 2016. The company also announced that they are being acquired by Lam Research Corporation (LRCX). The transaction valued KLAC at $67.02 per share.
KLA-Tencor Corporation CEO Comments
CEO comments regarding financial results:
“KLA-Tencor posted solid results for the first quarter of fiscal year 2016, with new orders and earnings per share finishing above the range of guidance, and with revenue finishing at the top end of the range of guidance, demonstrating our market leadership, the resilience of our business model, and effective operational execution,” said Rick Wallace, President and Chief Executive Officer. “The strong demand we are experiencing affirms KLA-Tencor’s ongoing focus on providing superior value to customers both in terms of meeting market requirements and delivering superior competitive offerings.” PR Newswire
CEO’s Comments regarding Lam Research acquiring KLA-Tencor
“I strongly believe that this transaction represents a great outcome for all of KLA-Tencor’s key stakeholders,” said Rick Wallace, president and chief executive officer of KLA-Tencor. “The combined company will be uniquely positioned to work collaboratively with our customers to help them meet the challenges of FinFET, multi-patterning and 3D NAND development. Given the complementary nature of the two companies’ product offerings and technologies as well as the lack of product overlap, the combination will create an industry leader with greater opportunities for our respective employees for professional development and growth. Lastly, this transaction will benefit our stockholders who will receive compelling upfront value, in addition to the opportunity to own a meaningful stake in an industry leader and participate in the upside potential created by the combination.” PR Newswire
KLAC Technical Analysis
KLAC gapped up in price yesterday to $64.39, up from the prior day’s close of $53.86, which is a 20% increase in price based on favorable news. Taking a look at the daily chart, we can see the last time the stock traded above this price level was on March 2nd, when it closed at $65.70. Since that date, the stock has been on a slow decline until it ultimately reached its 52 week low of $44.95 on August 24th. More recently, the stock has been in a range in between $48 and $53 until this gap up in price. The stock is trading on over five times the normal daily trading volume. The stock did reach pre market highs of $65.14 but gave back $0.75 at the open, or equivalent to only 1%. For trading purposes, my entry point would have been $64.50 with a possible add on at the pre market high of $65.14 looking for a run to $67(acquisition price). My stop loss would have been $64.25 fearing anything below that and the stock would start to fill in the gap up.
Company Profile
KLA-Tencor Corporation designs, manufactures, and markets process control and yield management solutions worldwide. It offers chip manufacturing products, such as front-end defect inspection tools, advanced packaging process control systems, defect review systems, metrology solutions, in-situ process monitoring products, and lithography software; wafer manufacturing products comprising surface and defect inspection, wafer geometry and nanotopography metrology, and data management; and reticle manufacturing products, such as defect inspection and pattern placement metrology products. The company also provides light emitting diode (LED) and compound semiconductor manufacturing products consisting of patterned wafer inspection, defect inspection, surface metrology, and data management products; thin-film head metrology and inspection, virtual lithography, in-situ process monitoring, transparent and metal substrate inspection, and data management products for data storage media/head manufacturing; and stylus and optical profiling, and optical inspection products microelectromechanical systems manufacturing, as well as products for general purpose/lab applications. It offers its products and services for bare wafer, IC, lithography reticle, and disk manufacturers. The company serves semiconductor and related nanoelectronics, LED, and data storage industries, as well as general materials research industries. KLA-Tencor Corporation was founded in 1975 and is headquartered in Milpitas, California. Yahoo Finance