Shares of KLA Corp. slid in after-hours trading Thursday after the semiconductor-equipment maker forecast third-quarter profit and sales to come in below expectations, as chip demand fades following a surge in pandemic-related demand. The company — whose equipment helps make the silicon plates that become chips, as well as other chip components — said it expected adjusted earnings per share to come in between $4.52 and $5.92 for its fiscal third quarter, with sales landing somewhere between $2.2 billion and $2.5 billion.
Analysts polled by FactSet expected adjusted earnings of $5.90 per share, on revenue of $2.53 billion. KLA
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shares sank 6% after hours. “Looking at 2023, we know that this will be a year of industry capacity adjustments as customers fine-tune their capex plans to address decreased demand in some segments,” Chief Executive Rick Wallace said on the company’s earnings call. He said that the company in the year ahead would “stabilize” spending levels overall — while still likely increasing research and development — while training employees after a big hiring push. For its fiscal second quarter, KLA reported net income of $979 million, or $6.89 a share, compared with $717 million, or $4.71 a share, in the same quarter last year. Revenue rose to $2.98 billion, compared with $2.35 billio …