UBS analyst Timothy Arcuri double downgraded KLA-Tencor to Sell from Buy with a price target of $140, down from $192. The stock closed Wednesday down 1% to $173.67. KLA has been among the top five semis stocks over the past six months, outperforming the S&P semis industry group by ~45%, Arcuri tells investors in a research note. The analyst, however, sees risk to estimates moving through the first half of 2020 with wafer fab equipment spending peaking. The "run-rate math is most worrisome" for KLA-Tencor's core foundry/logic segment, contends the analyst.

Stifel raised the firm's price target on KLA Corp. to $760 from $685 and keeps a Buy rating on the shares. The firm remains upbeat on the initial areas of pickup - HBM and advanced packaging - and expects to see incremental evidence of this broadening, the analyst tells investors in a semiconductor capital equipment group preview note. With utilization in advanced foundry/DRAM nodes tight and tightening and expected upward pressure on initial 2024 capex forecasts, the firm sees the stage being set for orders picking up in the second half of 2024, the analyst added.