At a glance
Kulicke and Soffa Industries Inc is worth $4.16B, about 19860 times its fiscal 2025 earnings. Revenue fell 7.4% to $654.1M in fiscal 2025, at a loss; over 5 years it has grown 1.0% a year. It pays a 1.06% dividend yield, raised every year for at least 3 years, and returned $821.9M to shareholders in dividends and buybacks over FY2021–FY2025. The stock returned +96.1% over the past year with dividends reinvested and +8.6% a year over five years, against +11.5% and +11.7% for the S&P 500. At its worst it fell 28.8% in the 2020 crash (S&P 500: 33.7%) and 41.9% in the 2022 bear market (S&P 500: 24.5%), and was back at its earlier high 1 month and 40 months after the lows.
The business in plain English
Kulicke & Soffa (K&S) makes the machines and supplies used to assemble semiconductors. Assembly is the late stage of chipmaking. It is when a finished chip is connected inside its protective package so it can work on a circuit board. Its tools help build chips for cars, computers, industrial equipment, memory and communications. Its customers are mainly integrated device manufacturers (chipmakers with their own plants), outsourced assembly and test firms, foundries, and electronics and automotive suppliers. K&S was founded in 1951 and has head offices in Singapore and Fort Washington, Pennsylvania.
K&S makes money from equipment sales. It also earns from the consumables, repairs, upgrades and service that follow, including for rivals' machines. In the fiscal year ended October 4, 2025, revenue was $654.1 million, down 7.4%. Ball bonding equipment, which attaches hair-thin wires between a chip and its package, brought in 44.8%. Aftermarket products and services (APS) added 23.9%. Wedge bonding equipment, a related wire-bonding method, made up 16.9%, and advanced solutions 11.1%.
Most sales are in Asia. China supplied 55.6% of fiscal 2025 revenue, the United States 9.5%, Taiwan 8.4% and Malaysia 7%. Some China sales may go to plants there run by customers based elsewhere. In March 2025 the board approved winding down the electronics assembly equipment business to focus on core chip assembly.
Price history
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KLIC +96.1% over the year to Oct 28, 2026, total return with dividends reinvested.
How it makes money
By business segment
| Ball Bonding Equipment | $293.0M | 44.8% |
| APS | $156.1M | 23.9% |
| Wedge Bonding Equipment | $110.6M | 16.9% |
| Advanced Solutions | $72.7M | 11.1% |
| All Others | $21.7M | 3.3% |
By geography
| China | $363.6M | 55.6% |
| United States | $62.2M | 9.5% |
| All other | $58.3M | 8.9% |
| Taiwan | $55.0M | 8.4% |
| Malaysia | $45.8M | 7% |
| Korea | $27.5M | 4.2% |
| Hong Kong | $15.7M | 2.4% |
| Philippines | $14.8M | 2.3% |
| Japan | $11.0M | 1.7% |
Latest results
- In Q3 FY2026 (ended Jul 4, 2026), revenue was $330.4M, up 122.6% from a year earlier, and net income was $57.4M.
- For fiscal 2025, revenue was $654.1M (-7.4% year over year; +1.0% a year from FY2020 to FY2025) with a 0% net margin.
Financial health check
| Revenue growth a year (FY2020–FY2025) | +1.0% watch |
|---|---|
| Operating margin | -0.5% weak |
| Free cash flow margin | 14.7% good |
| Return on equity (FY2025) | 0% weak |
| Return on assets (FY2025) | 0% weak |
| Cash and investments | $516.6M (no borrowings found in the filings) good |
| Fiscal year | Revenue | Net income | Free cash flow |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2020 | $623.2M | $52.3M | $82.7M |
| FY2021 | $1.52B | $367.2M | $277.3M |
| FY2022 | $1.50B | $433.5M | $367.2M |
| FY2023 | $742.5M | $57.1M | $129.0M |
| FY2024 | $706.2M | $-69.0M | $14.9M |
| FY2025 | $654.1M | $213K | $96.4M |
Valuation snapshot
| Market value | $4.16B |
|---|---|
| P/E ratio | 19860 |
| Dividend yield | 1.06% |
Rank among 1514 US companies
Market value at each year end
Kulicke and Soffa Industries’s market value went from $1.13B at the end of 2016 to $4.16B on Oct 28, 2026, about 3.7 times as much; since the end of 2025 it is up 74%.
Show as a table
| Year end | Market value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 28, 2026 | $4.16B | +74.3% |
| 2025 | $2.39B | -5.1% |
| 2024 | $2.51B | -19.0% |
| 2023 | $3.10B | +20.8% |
| 2022 | $2.57B | -32.0% |
| 2021 | $3.78B | +91.5% |
| 2020 | $1.97B | +15.1% |
| 2019 | $1.71B | +25.9% |
| 2018 | $1.36B | -20.8% |
| 2017 | $1.72B | +52.0% |
| 2016 | $1.13B |
Price behavior
| YTD | 1 yr | 3 yr | 5 yr | 10 yr | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| KLIC price data to Oct 28, 2026 | +75.7% | +96.1% | +25.4% | +8.6% | +21.4% |
Show as a table
| Year | Price data |
|---|---|
| 2026 (to date) | +75.7% |
| 2025 | -0.2% |
| 2024 | -13.2% |
| 2023 | +25.5% |
| 2022 | -25.8% |
| 2021 | +92.4% |
| 2020 | +19.4% |
| 2019 | +36.9% |
| 2018 | -15.3% |
| 2017 | +52.6% |
| 2016 | +36.7% |
| 2015 | -19.3% |
| 2014 | +8.7% |
| 2013 | +10.9% |
| 2012 | +29.6% |
| 2011 | +28.5% |
| 2010 | +33.6% |
| 2009 | +217.1% |
| 2008 | -75.2% |
| 2007 | -18.3% |
| 2006 | -5.0% |
| 2008 financial crisis stocks fell Oct 9, 2007 – Mar 9, 2009 | Lost 86.7% over that stretch · deepest drop along the way 87%, back to its old high 16.8 months after the low |
|---|---|
| 2020 COVID crash stocks fell Feb 19, 2020 – Mar 23, 2020 | Lost 28.5% over that stretch · deepest drop along the way 28.8%, back to its old high 1.2 months after the low |
| 2022 bear market stocks fell Jan 3, 2022 – Oct 12, 2022 | Lost 41.9% over that stretch · deepest drop along the way 41.9%, back to its old high 39.8 months after the low |
Insider activity
Form 4 filings from 2025-10-29 to 2026-10-29 (25 read): 0 open-market purchases and 1 sales ($7.3M).
| Date | Insider | Type | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 18, 2026 | Lester A Wong Interim CEO and CFO | sell | $7.3M |
Who owns it
Large shareholders (13G filings)
| BlackRock, Inc. | 15.4% | Mar 31, 2025 |
| Vanguard Portfolio Management | 5.17% | Jun 30, 2026 |
| JPMORGAN CHASE & CO | 5% | Jun 30, 2026 |
| Capital International Investors | 4.5% | Jun 30, 2025 |
| Victory Capital Management, Inc. | 4.29% | Sep 30, 2025 |
| JPMORGAN CHASE & CO. | 3.4% | Sep 30, 2026 |
ETFs with the most weight in KLIC
| PSI Invesco Semiconductors ETF | 2.69% |
| QQQS Invesco NASDAQ Future Gen 200 ETF | 0.49% |
| VIOV Vanguard S&P Small-Cap 600 Value ETF | 0.32% |
| SLYV SPDR S&P 600 Small Cap Value ETF | 0.29% |
| IJS iShares S&P Small-Cap 600 Value ETF | 0.27% |
| QSML WisdomTree U.S. SmallCap Quality Growth Fund | 0.25% |
| AVSC Avantis U.S Small Cap Equity ETF | 0.22% |
| JMEE JPMorgan Small & Mid Cap Enhanced Equity ETF | 0.21% |
What could go wrong
- More than half of sales come from China. China supplied 55.6% of revenue in fiscal 2025. U.S. export restrictions or a wider U.S.-China trade war could limit which customers K&S can sell to and raise costs through tariffs.
- Newer packaging methods could replace wire bonders. Ball bonding and wedge bonding equipment brought in 44.8% and 16.9% of fiscal 2025 revenue. K&S warns that other ways of connecting and packaging chips could make some of its products obsolete.
- Key production sits in Israel. K&S makes capillaries, small consumable bonding tools, in Haifa, Israel, and in China. The regional war had not disrupted operations as of November 2025, but escalation could damage assets or halt output.
- A few customers drive most sales. A small number of customers account for most revenue, and orders can be canceled or delayed. One customer canceled an advanced display project, though it agreed to reimburse K&S $86.2 million.
- Leadership turnover and a business wind-down. In June 2026, Lester A. Wong was interim CEO and CFO, and executive or board changes followed in August and October. K&S lists both succession and its electronics assembly wind-down as risks.
- Sharp, hard-to-predict industry downturns. Demand for chip equipment rises and falls with the semiconductor cycle. Revenue fell from $1.50 billion in fiscal 2022 to $742.5 million in fiscal 2023. Fixed costs make profits fall faster than sales.
Recent events
- Executive or board change
- Executive or board change; Investor presentation or announcement
- Quarterly results released
- Quarterly results released
- Shareholder vote results
- Quarterly results released
- Quarterly results released
For income and retirement investors
Kulicke & Soffa pays a quarterly dividend of $0.205 a share. That came to $0.82 for the fiscal year ended October 4, 2025, up from $0.48 in fiscal 2020. It has raised the payout three fiscal years in a row. The yield (yearly dividends divided by the share price) was 1.06% as of October 28, 2026, so the income is modest. Fiscal 2025 earnings were near zero, so dividends were far larger than profit. They used about 56% of free cash flow, which is the cash left after capital spending. Buybacks were larger than dividends: $608.9 million over fiscal 2021 to 2025, against $213.1 million in dividends. The share count fell 15.6% between August 2021 and July 2026.
In downturns the stock has fallen hard: 87% in the 2008 financial crisis, 29% in the 2020 COVID crash and 42% in the 2022 bear market. That last drop took nearly 40 months to recover. Single stocks carry more risk than diversified funds.
Questions investors ask
Does Kulicke & Soffa pay a dividend?
Yes. Kulicke & Soffa pays a quarterly dividend. Its board declared $0.205 per share four times in the fiscal year ended October 4, 2025, for $0.82 in total. The yield was 1.06% as of October 28, 2026. The per-share dividend has grown from $0.48 in fiscal 2020, about 11.3% a year on average. In fiscal 2025, dividends used about 56% of free cash flow. Future dividends are up to the board and depend on the company's finances and business conditions.
How does Kulicke & Soffa make money?
Kulicke & Soffa sells equipment and supplies used to assemble semiconductor chips. Its fiscal year ended October 4, 2025, with $654.1 million in revenue. Ball bonding equipment, which connects chips to their packages with fine wire, brought in 44.8% of that. The APS line, which covers aftermarket consumables and services, added 23.9%. Wedge bonding equipment added 16.9% and advanced solutions 11.1%. Customers include chipmakers and outsourced assembly and test firms. China accounted for 55.6% of sales.
Is Kulicke & Soffa profitable?
Barely, for its last full fiscal year, but results improved sharply afterward. In the year ended October 4, 2025, revenue fell 7.4% to $654.1 million and net income was close to zero. That followed a $69.0 million loss in fiscal 2024. Many customers were cutting orders while they used up excess inventory. In the quarter ended July 4, 2026, revenue jumped 122.6% from a year earlier to $330.4 million, and net income was $57.4 million. Demand for chip equipment is cyclical, so results swing sharply.
Does Kulicke & Soffa buy back its own stock?
Yes, and it has spent more on buybacks than on dividends. It spent $608.9 million buying back shares over fiscal 2021 through 2025, against $213.1 million in dividends. In the fiscal year ended October 4, 2025, it bought back about 1,785,000 shares for $66.2 million. Those purchases were under a $300 million program that runs to December 2, 2029, and about $233.8 million of it was left to use. Shares outstanding fell 15.6% between August 2021 and July 2026.
Is KLIC stock volatile?
Yes, very. Its beta measures how much a stock moves compared with the overall market. For the year to October 28, 2026, KLIC's beta was 2.17. Over that year the shares gained 96.1% but also fell as much as 45% from a high. They dropped 87% in the 2008 financial crisis and 42% in the 2022 bear market. They did not get back to the 2022 peak until February 2026. The worst fall in 21.3 years of price history was 90.7%.