# Kulicke and Soffa Industries (KLIC.US)

Canonical: https://gigainvestors.com/s/KLIC

Analysis as of: 2026-10-16T07:29:38.555Z. Financial observations: FY1996–FY2025.

Listing currency: USD. Reporting currency: USD.

## Verdict

Not a wonderful business

Quality tests for Buy: not passed (profit record: fail; earnings resilience is evidence only). Published buy qualification: no.

Share price: $83.05 per share; close as of 2026-10-15.

Estimated value: low $20.63 per share, central $22.16 per share, high $24.20 per share. Buy at or below the central value $22.16 per share. Valuation as of 2026-10-16T07:29:38.555Z; scenarios are not confidence intervals.

Expected annual return: 4.2% at the stated quote. About 4.2% a year at today's price (required return 10.0%). required return 10.0% a year (10% floor; US 10-year bond 5.1% + 4 points).

## Checklist

### understandable: fail

- 5 revenue declines in the last 10 years (informational)

- operating margin variation exceeds 0.35

- Financial history: 10 years

- Years with declining revenue: 5

- Years with a net loss: 1

- Operating margin variation: 1.18×

Chart: Operating margin; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: 0.09×

- FY2017: 0.14×

- FY2018: 0.19×

- FY2019: 0.04×

- FY2020: 0.09×

- FY2021: 0.27×

- FY2022: 0.31×

- FY2023: 0.05×

- FY2024: -0.13×

- FY2025: -0.00×

### moat: fail

- ROIC worst years below threshold (more than 1 bad year allowed)

- Recent gross margin fell 4.1pp below the typical margin (limit 4pp)

- ROIC, median of available years: 21.6%

- ROIC, second-lowest year: -0.7%

- Typical minus recent gross margin: 4.1 pp

- Typical gross margin (annual median): 46.6%

- Recent gross margin (lower of latest and 3-year median): 42.5%

- Years with nonpositive capital: 0

- Capital spending / revenue: 2.2%

- ROIC including acquisitions, ten-year median: 17.5%

Chart: ROIC excluding acquisitions; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: 18.9%

- FY2017: 32.3%

- FY2018: 44.2%

- FY2019: 7.2%

- FY2020: 24.4%

- FY2021: >100%

- FY2022: >100%

- FY2023: 8.3%

- FY2024: -23.0%

- FY2025: -0.7%

### economics: fail

- incremental invested capital return below threshold

- working capital as a share of revenue rose more than 10pp and ends positive

- Owner earnings / net income, 5-yr: 0.99×

- Cash conversion uses consolidated totals: No

- Owner earnings, five-year total: $781M

- Net income, five-year total: $789M

- Return on incremental invested capital: -34.1%

- Working capital / revenue, annual change: 1.3 pp

- Working capital / revenue, change between three-year averages: 12.4 pp

- Working capital / revenue, final three-year average: 44.5%

Chart: Annual owner cash / profit; fiscal year observations.

- FY2021: 1.00×

- FY2022: 1.00×

- FY2023: 0.73×

- FY2024: 0.88×

- FY2025: 4.62×

### management: fail

- Historical market-dollar context (not the management verdict): 2017 to 2025 (8 years)

- potential debt-funded buybacks (informational)

- buybacks unrelated to price (informational)

- ROIC first 3 years vs last 3 years: 32.3% vs -0.7%

- Per-share earnings: 0.69 to 0.00 (three-year endpoint medians)

- per-share value declined or ends nonpositive

- Management verdict uses per-share economic progress: Yes

- Ordinary dilution, 10-year annual growth: -3.5%

- Ordinary dilution, 5-year annual growth: -3.4%

- Market cap gain: $596M

- Cumulative retained earnings: $638M

- Diluted shares, 10-year annual growth: -3.5%

- Diluted shares, 5-year annual growth: -3.4%

- $1 test, starting fiscal year: FY2017

- $1 test, ending fiscal year: FY2025

- Per-share value growth: -47.4%

- Per-share value change: -$0.68

- Per-share value, starting three-year median: $0.69

- Per-share value, ending three-year median: $0.00

- Buybacks concentrated in cheaper years (correlation): -0.25

- Average buyback yield: 4.9%

- Buyback history: 9 years

- Debt-funded buybacks: Yes

- Acquisition spending: $91M

- Cumulative net income, 10 years: $1.1B

- ROIC, first three-year median: 32.3%

- ROIC, last three-year median: -0.7%

Chart: Earnings per share; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: $0.68

- FY2017: $1.75

- FY2018: $0.80

- FY2019: $0.18

- FY2020: $0.83

- FY2021: $5.78

- FY2022: $7.09

- FY2023: $0.99

- FY2024: -$1.24

- FY2025: $0.00

### accounting: pass

- stock compensation exceeds 15% of operating cash flow

- Sloan accruals: -10.3%

- Receivables to sales index (DSRI): 1.02×

- Restructuring years, last five: 1

- Stock compensation / operating cash flow: 25.1%

- Earnings backed by cash: Yes

- Operating cash / earnings: 533.17×

- Accounting red flags: 1

- Goodwill and intangibles / equity: 0.09×

Chart: Sloan accruals; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: -2.0%

- FY2017: -0.9%

- FY2018: -5.6%

- FY2019: -5.0%

- FY2020: -4.0%

- FY2021: 4.2%

- FY2022: 2.7%

- FY2023: -7.8%

- FY2024: -8.1%

- FY2025: -10.3%

## Holders

- [Lee Ainslie](https://gigainvestors.com/mc): tracked 13F investor; follow the investor page for holding quarter and amounts.

## Price story

Down 38% since Jun 2026 · sales -7.4%

Story as of 2026-10-16T09:59:01.192Z; price observation 2026-10-15.

Price needs cash profits to grow 23.5% a year for ten years

- 2025-08-12: KLIC Q2 Deep Dive: Core Market Improvement Offsets Automotive Weakness, Guidance Surprises to Upside ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/klic-q2-deep-dive-core-072319858.html))

- 2026-02-04: Kulicke and Soffa (NASDAQ:KLIC) Beats Expectations in Strong Q4 But Inventory Levels Increase ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/kulicke-soffa-nasdaq-klic-beats-220747428.html))

### Sales · FY2024–2025

sales -7.4%; source https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/56978/000005697825000081/klic-20251004.htm; observed 2025-11-20.

- FY2016: $627M 

- FY2017: $809M 

- FY2018: $889M 

- FY2019: $540M 

- FY2020: $623M 

- FY2021: $1.5B 

- FY2022: $1.5B 

- FY2023: $742M 

- FY2024: $706M 

- FY2025: $654M 

### Gross margin · FY2025

gross margin 42.5%; source https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/56978/000005697825000081/klic-20251004.htm; observed 2025-11-20.

- FY2016: 44.8% 

- FY2017: 47.2% 

- FY2018: 46.1% 

- FY2019: 47.1% 

- FY2020: 47.8% 

- FY2021: 45.9% 

- FY2022: 49.8% 

- FY2023: 48.3% 

- FY2024: 38.1% 

- FY2025: 42.5% 

## Owner memo

Memo as of 2026-10-16T08:06:05.509Z.

### How it makes money

Operates in semiconductor equipment & materials; annual sales are USD 654.1 million.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/56978/000005697825000081/klic-20251004.htm (filed 2025-11-20); FY2025: revenue 654081000; grossProfit 277921000; margin = grossProfit / revenue.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16); KLIC.US: Kulicke and Soffa Industries, Inc. designs, manufactures, and sells capital equipment and consumables in China, the United States, Taiwan, Malaysia, Japan, the Philippines, Korea, Hong Kong, and internationally. It operates through four segments: Ball Bonding Equipment, Wedge Bonding Equipment, Advanced Solutions, and Aftermarket Products and Services (APS). The company provides services used to assemble semiconductor devices, such as integrated circuits, power discretes, light-emitting diode (LEDs), and sensors. It also offers ball bonding equipment, wafer level bonding equipment, and wedge-related bonding equipment; and advanced display, die-attach, and thermocompression systems and solutions, as well as tools, spares, and services for equipment. In addition, the company services, maintains, repairs, and upgrades equipment; and sells consumable aftermarket solutions and services. It serves integrated device manufacturers, outsourced wedge and wedge semiconductor assembly and test providers, other electronics manufacturers, foundry service providers, and automotive electronics suppliers primarily in the United States and the Asia/Pacific region. The company was founded in 1951 and is headquartered in Singapore.

### Why customers stay

Margins ranged from 38.1% to 48.3% during 2023–25; it earns 21.6% on its capital.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2025-11-20); FY2023: grossProfit / revenue = 48.3%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2025-11-20); FY2024: grossProfit / revenue = 38.1%.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/56978/000005697825000081/klic-20251004.htm (filed 2025-11-20); FY2025: grossProfit / revenue = 42.5%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2025-11-20); 10-year return on capital observations [[2016,0.18903143687561594],[2017,0.32320509889104837],[2018,0.4424731907592377],[2019,0.07192305132130733],[2020,0.24358923312158123],[2021,1.1225678872013316],[2022,1.0879755896428642],[2023,0.0832621098827684],[2024,-0.22973003392260363],[2025,-0.007489341019473859]]; median 0.21631033499859859. ROIC follows the displayed moat series; financial companies use return on tangible equity.

### Where the cash goes

Reinvests 34.7% of cash earnings; paid dividends in 10 of 10 years.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2025-11-20); FY2016: growth capex 0; upkeep 6218000; cash acquisitions 0; owner earnings 58467000. Growth capex plus acquisitions / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2025-11-20); FY2017: growth capex 9333000; upkeep 16257000; cash acquisitions 27119000; owner earnings 126099000. Growth capex plus acquisitions / owner earnings = 0.28907445737079596.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2025-11-20); FY2018: growth capex 1481000; upkeep 19015000; cash acquisitions 0; owner earnings 56676000. Growth capex plus acquisitions / owner earnings = 0.026130990189851083.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2025-11-20); FY2019: growth capex 0; upkeep 11742000; cash acquisitions 0; owner earnings 20215000. Growth capex plus acquisitions / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2025-11-20); FY2020: growth capex 0; upkeep 11719000; cash acquisitions 0; owner earnings 60320000. Growth capex plus acquisitions / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2025-11-20); FY2021: growth capex 2965000; upkeep 19810000; cash acquisitions 26338000; owner earnings 367161000. Growth capex plus acquisitions / owner earnings = 0.0798096747748263.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2025-11-20); FY2022: growth capex 0; upkeep 22985000; cash acquisitions 0; owner earnings 431853000. Growth capex plus acquisitions / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2025-11-20); FY2023: growth capex 0; upkeep 44406000; cash acquisitions 36881000; owner earnings 41599000. Growth capex plus acquisitions / owner earnings = 0.886583812110868.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/56978/000005697825000081/klic-20251004.htm (filed 2025-11-20); FY2025: growth capex 0; upkeep 17203000; cash acquisitions 341000; owner earnings 984000. Growth capex plus acquisitions / owner earnings = 0.3465447154471545.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2025-11-20); Dividend observations: [[2016,8176000],[2017,8176000],[2018,8176000],[2019,31566000],[2020,30233000],[2021,33453000],[2022,39363000],[2023,42037000],[2024,44162000],[2025,54065000]]. Zero only counted when supported by a complete cash-flow statement.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/56978/000005697825000081/klic-20251004.htm (filed 2025-11-20); FY2025: cash repurchases 97105000 USD.

### Are managers owners

Insiders own 3.5% of the company.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16); KLIC.US SharesStats.PercentInsiders = 3.546 percentage points; cache date 2026-10-16.

### What the price says

The price assumes cash profits grow 23.5% yearly over ten years; actual decline was 31.4%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2025-11-20); Ten-year compound average after fade. Initial solved rate 0.33002342002204077. Price 83.05; FX 1; discount 0.1; same standard ten-year fade to terminal 0.03. FY2015 owner earnings/share 0.8011604700035686 → FY2025 0.01849867463764029. Closing-price date 2026-10-15.

## Monthly share-price history (USD per share)

- 2016-10: $13.24 per share

- 2016-11: $15.43 per share

- 2016-12: $15.95 per share

- 2017-01: $17.58 per share

- 2017-02: $20.47 per share

- 2017-03: $20.32 per share

- 2017-04: $22.32 per share

- 2017-05: $22.15 per share

- 2017-06: $19.02 per share

- 2017-07: $21.54 per share

- 2017-08: $19.03 per share

- 2017-09: $21.57 per share

- 2017-10: $22.65 per share

- 2017-11: $24.83 per share

- 2017-12: $24.34 per share

- 2018-01: $23.01 per share

- 2018-02: $23.30 per share

- 2018-03: $25.01 per share

- 2018-04: $22.89 per share

- 2018-05: $24.08 per share

- 2018-06: $23.82 per share

- 2018-07: $26.36 per share

- 2018-08: $25.79 per share

- 2018-09: $23.84 per share

- 2018-10: $20.33 per share

- 2018-11: $21.60 per share

- 2018-12: $20.27 per share

- 2019-01: $22.53 per share

- 2019-02: $23.32 per share

- 2019-03: $22.11 per share

- 2019-04: $23.27 per share

- 2019-05: $19.39 per share

- 2019-06: $22.55 per share

- 2019-07: $22.63 per share

- 2019-08: $20.83 per share

- 2019-09: $23.48 per share

- 2019-10: $23.75 per share

- 2019-11: $25.09 per share

- 2019-12: $27.20 per share

- 2020-01: $25.89 per share

- 2020-02: $22.83 per share

- 2020-03: $20.87 per share

- 2020-04: $23.97 per share

- 2020-05: $22.36 per share

- 2020-06: $20.83 per share

- 2020-07: $23.70 per share

- 2020-08: $23.98 per share

- 2020-09: $22.40 per share

- 2020-10: $26.14 per share

- 2020-11: $30.45 per share

- 2020-12: $31.81 per share

- 2021-01: $35.67 per share

- 2021-02: $49.86 per share

- 2021-03: $49.11 per share

- 2021-04: $56.85 per share

- 2021-05: $51.90 per share

- 2021-06: $61.20 per share

- 2021-07: $54.36 per share

- 2021-08: $70.19 per share

- 2021-09: $58.28 per share

- 2021-10: $57.00 per share

- 2021-11: $57.66 per share

- 2021-12: $60.54 per share

- 2022-01: $54.69 per share

- 2022-02: $52.24 per share

- 2022-03: $56.02 per share

- 2022-04: $46.41 per share

- 2022-05: $54.17 per share

- 2022-06: $42.81 per share

- 2022-07: $48.12 per share

- 2022-08: $42.04 per share

- 2022-09: $38.53 per share

- 2022-10: $41.94 per share

- 2022-11: $47.95 per share

- 2022-12: $44.26 per share

- 2023-01: $51.10 per share

- 2023-02: $53.30 per share

- 2023-03: $52.69 per share

- 2023-04: $47.66 per share

- 2023-05: $52.88 per share

- 2023-06: $59.45 per share

- 2023-07: $59.88 per share

- 2023-08: $51.73 per share

- 2023-09: $48.63 per share

- 2023-10: $41.61 per share

- 2023-11: $51.52 per share

- 2023-12: $54.72 per share

- 2024-01: $50.32 per share

- 2024-02: $47.62 per share

- 2024-03: $50.31 per share

- 2024-04: $46.28 per share

- 2024-05: $45.67 per share

- 2024-06: $49.19 per share

- 2024-07: $47.17 per share

- 2024-08: $43.81 per share

- 2024-09: $45.13 per share

- 2024-10: $44.86 per share

- 2024-11: $48.42 per share

- 2024-12: $46.66 per share

- 2025-01: $44.35 per share

- 2025-02: $38.27 per share

- 2025-03: $32.98 per share

- 2025-04: $32.23 per share

- 2025-05: $32.15 per share

- 2025-06: $34.60 per share

- 2025-07: $32.76 per share

- 2025-08: $37.50 per share

- 2025-09: $40.64 per share

- 2025-10: $39.93 per share

- 2025-11: $45.11 per share

- 2025-12: $45.56 per share

- 2026-01: $57.33 per share

- 2026-02: $69.72 per share

- 2026-03: $65.72 per share

- 2026-04: $85.50 per share

- 2026-05: $101.89 per share

- 2026-06: $133.76 per share

- 2026-07: $89.20 per share

- 2026-08: $80.06 per share

- 2026-09: $94.25 per share

- 2026-10: $83.05 per share

## Annual estimated value (USD per share)

- FY2016: low $18.53 per share, central $20.05 per share, high $22.06 per share

- FY2017: low $22.14 per share, central $24.06 per share, high $26.62 per share

- FY2018: low $27.45 per share, central $34.99 per share, high $39.59 per share

- FY2019: low $17.17 per share, central $18.33 per share, high $19.86 per share

- FY2020: low $18.19 per share, central $19.57 per share, high $21.41 per share

- FY2021: low $41.40 per share, central $52.64 per share, high $59.80 per share

- FY2022: low $44.12 per share, central $57.22 per share, high $65.05 per share

- FY2023: low $26.59 per share, central $28.47 per share, high $30.98 per share

- FY2024: low $23.56 per share, central $25.41 per share, high $27.88 per share

- FY2025: low $16.89 per share, central $17.92 per share, high $19.31 per share

Historical values use today's bond yield for every fiscal year

Historical values use today's FX rate into trading currency for every fiscal year

Historical values use current restated fundamentals and current commodity classification; they are not point-in-time estimates

Prior published observations retained from 2026-10-15T06:35:23.004Z where newer inputs omit a numeric field or fiscal period.

## Sources

[Original 10-K filing](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/56978/000005697825000081/klic-20251004.htm); period 2025-10-04, filed 2025-11-20.

Estimates depend on assumptions and are not guarantees or investment advice. Underlying data remains subject to its source licenses; public reading does not grant bulk redistribution rights.