Forensic Analysis · Industrials / Manufacturing / Defense · as of Sep 25, 2026
Kla Corp (KLAC)
A forensic read on Kla Corp built from its complete SEC filings — financial-health screens, earnings quality, red flags and a price-aware rating. Reproducible math, not opinion.
C · Mixed — selective
Forensic grade
Safe
Financial health
18.3
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
2
Forensic signals
47.9
P / E (ttm)
76.1%
ROE
$245.4B
Market cap
1.04%
Dividend yield
11.7%
Revenue growth
This free snapshot doesn't read filing or proxy text, so the auditor-quality and governance checks that can lower a grade were not evaluated (red flags, auditor quality, say on pay, board independence, going concern, valuation). Those checks only ever lower a grade, so the full analysis can land below the grade above but never above it — treat it as the most favourable reading, not the settled one.
Kla Corp earns a C (Mixed — selective) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 18.3, placing it in the Safe zone. 2 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by accruals ratio (% of noa).
What the filings flag
+21.9%
FY2025→FY2026
Accruals ratio (% of NOA).Net operating assets grew +21.9% relative to their own average in FY2026 — scaled by NOA itself, not by total assets, which is what the Forensic Screens card's own accrual row divides by. Accruals are building sharply — a large slice of profit sits in operating assets, not cash. An accrual is a claim that still has to be collected or written down, so the gap resolves in a later period whichever way it goes. The build is led by receivables up +28% against revenue +12% and inventory up +14% against +11% in cost of sales. A cash-flow measure on the same base agrees: reported earnings ran ahead of operating cash by 7% of net operating assets, against an accruals ratio of 21.9%. The two are computed differently: the accruals ratio is the change in net operating assets over average net operating assets, while the cash-flow figure is net income less operating cash flow over that same average.
$493M
FY2024–FY2025
Goodwill impairments.Took $493M of goodwill writedowns across 2 years (FY2024 ($263M), FY2025 ($230M)) — about 7% of net income over the span. Writedowns mean past acquisitions underperformed what was paid for them.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$13.58B
Revenue Growth YoY+11.7%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)+17.7%
Net Margin35.6%
Free Cash Flow$3.77B
Return on Equity76.1%
Debt / Equity0.93x
The forensic grade and screens above are free — no account needed. Want the AI investment read on top — the 0–100 rating, thesis, bull-vs-bear, red flags and the 12-month scenario, written from Kla Corp's actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?