ONTO vs KLAC Stock Comparison: AI Score, Valuation, Performance and Upside
Onto Innovation and KLA Corporation both provide semiconductor process control and inspection equipment, but KLA Corporation holds a leading, diversified market position across the industry, while Onto Innovation is a smaller, more focused player with a growing specialization in advanced packaging inspection.
ONTO offers focused exposure to the growing advanced packaging inspection niche, while KLAC offers diversified market leadership across semiconductor process control broadly. The decision depends on whether you prefer a focused growth niche or diversified industry leadership.
ONTO holds the edge across 3 of 5 key metrics in this comparison. ONTO leads on both 1-year return (+109.81%) and forward P/E quality (21.84x vs 26.30x for KLAC), a relatively favorable combination of momentum and valuation. On fundamentals, ONTO is growing revenue faster (35.30%), while KLAC maintains the higher operating margin (42.49%) — a classic growth-versus-profitability split. Analyst consensus implies meaningfully more upside for ONTO (+52.60%) than for KLAC (+33.50%).
Human Wall Street analysts' price targets, typically implying a ~12-month view — a separate signal from this site's own AI Prediction Signal further down the page, which is a 5-/30-day machine-learning forecast based on price history alone.
- Want focused exposure to the growing advanced packaging inspection equipment niche
- Believe the industry's shift toward complex chip packaging will continue driving demand
- Are comfortable with revenue concentration among leading-edge chip manufacturing customers
- Prefer a smaller, more focused semiconductor equipment company
- Want exposure to the market leader in semiconductor process control and yield management
- Value diversification across many leading chipmaker customers globally
- Believe growing services and software revenue will provide more stable recurring income
- Prefer scale and technology leadership over a more focused equipment niche
| Metric | ONTO | KLAC |
|---|---|---|
| AI scorei | 64.9 | 77.6 |
| AI ranki | #84 | #18 |
| Latest closei | $244.16 | $168.02 |
| 1M returni | -26.39% | -17.52% |
| 6M returni | +24.18% | +13.42% |
| 1Y returni | +109.81% | +69.90% |
How much would $10,000 be worth today if invested at the start of each period, with all dividends reinvested?
| Period | ONTO | KLAC |
|---|---|---|
| 1Y ago | $20.25K (+102.5%) started 2025-09-16 | $16.96K (+69.6%) started 2025-09-16 |
| 5Y ago | $30.94K (+209.4%) started 2021-09-16 | $71.27K (+612.7%) started 2021-09-17 |
| 10Y ago | $69.11K (+591.1%) started 2019-10-28 | $1.35M (+13383.0%) started 2016-09-19 |
Hypothetical — past performance does not guarantee future results.
| Metric | ONTO | KLAC |
|---|---|---|
| Market capi | $15.56B | $229.35B |
| Trailing P/Ei | 95.34 | 48.09 |
| Forward P/Ei | 21.84 | 26.30 |
| Price/Salesi | N/A | 9.25 |
| EV/Revenuei | 10.87 | 16.98 |
| Analyst targeti | $388.45 | $234.35 |
| Target upsidei | +52.60% | +33.50% |
| Metric | ONTO | KLAC |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue growthi | 35.30% | 15.20% |
| Earnings growthi | 75.40% | 13.80% |
| EPS growthi | +75.40% | +13.80% |
| FCF margini | +18.12% | +19.33% |
| Operating margini | 22.97% | 42.49% |
| Profit margini | 11.84% | 35.57% |
| ROIC proxyi | 6.83% | 87.50% |
| Return on equityi | 6.83% | 87.50% |
| Dividend yieldi | N/A | 0.50% |
| Payout ratioi | 0.00% | 21.86% |
| Dividend growth streaki | N/A | No increase yet |
| Betai | 1.59 | 1.46 |
| Debt/equityi | 76.55 | 96.88 |
| Current ratioi | 9.73 | 2.88 |
| Quick ratioi | 8.17 | 1.84 |
Over the past year, ONTO and KLAC have moved barely in the same direction (correlation of 0.14), based on daily returns.
Lower drawdown and smaller single-period drops generally indicate a smoother ride, though they do not guarantee lower future risk.
| Period | Metric | ONTO | KLAC |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1Y | Growthi | +102.49% | +69.62% |
| CAGRi | +102.74% | +69.78% | |
| Volatilityi | 71.84% | 961.70% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 1.28 | 0.97 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 1.94 | 9.36 | |
| Max drawdowni | 42.31% | 90.02% | |
| Current drawdowni | 35.48% | 44.31% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 9.98% | 12.29% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 13.70% | 19.32% | |
| Max daily dropi | 12.46% | 90.02% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 26.06% | 89.95% | |
| 5Y | Growthi | +209.42% | +373.39% |
| CAGRi | +25.35% | +36.49% | |
| Volatilityi | 59.16% | 432.69% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.61 | 0.49 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 0.87 | 4.08 | |
| Max drawdowni | 62.82% | 90.02% | |
| Current drawdowni | 35.48% | 44.31% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 21.63% | 12.16% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 27.32% | 16.28% | |
| Max daily dropi | 30.21% | 90.02% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 30.37% | 89.95% | |
| 10Y | Growthi | +591.08% | +2702.92% |
| CAGRi | +32.41% | +39.60% | |
| Volatilityi | 58.05% | 307.00% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.70 | 0.41 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 1.01 | 3.03 | |
| Max drawdowni | 62.82% | 90.02% | |
| Current drawdowni | 35.48% | 44.31% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 18.74% | 9.71% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 24.58% | 13.56% | |
| Max daily dropi | 30.21% | 90.02% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 30.37% | 89.95% |
| Category | ONTO | KLAC |
|---|---|---|
| Company | Onto Innovation Inc. | KLA Corporation |
| Sector | Technology | Technology |
| Industry | Semiconductor Equipment & Materials | Semiconductor Equipment & Materials |
| Core business | A semiconductor equipment company that designs process control and metrology systems used by chipmakers to inspect and measure wafers, with a growing focus on advanced packaging inspection technology. | A leading semiconductor equipment company that designs process control and yield management systems used by chipmakers worldwide to inspect wafers and identify defects throughout the manufacturing process. |
| Investor focus | Advanced packaging inspection equipment adoption as chipmakers pursue new packaging techniques, customer concentration among leading-edge chip manufacturers, and semiconductor capital spending cycle timing. | Process control market share leadership across advanced semiconductor manufacturing nodes, semiconductor capital spending cycle timing, and services and software revenue growth as a more stable complement to equipment sales. |
- Growing focus on advanced packaging inspection technology positions the company to benefit from the industry's shift toward more complex chip packaging techniques
- Specialized process control and metrology technology addresses a critical need for chipmakers pursuing smaller process nodes and higher yields
- Smaller scale relative to the largest process control equipment makers allows for more focused investment in specific growth niches like advanced packaging
- Leading position in semiconductor process control and yield management provides significant scale and technology leadership advantages
- Diversified customer base across many leading chipmakers globally reduces reliance on any single customer's capital spending plans
- Growing services and software revenue provides a more stable, recurring complement to cyclical equipment sales
- Revenue is concentrated among a relatively small number of leading-edge semiconductor manufacturing customers
- Semiconductor equipment demand is highly cyclical, tied closely to chipmakers' capital spending plans
- Smaller scale relative to larger process control competitors provides less diversification across equipment categories
- Semiconductor equipment demand is highly cyclical, tied closely to chipmakers' capital spending plans
- Export control regulations affecting semiconductor equipment sales to certain countries can affect addressable market and revenue
- Large scale and market leadership mean continued growth increasingly depends on overall semiconductor industry capital spending trends
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