Is KLA Corporation (KLAC) the Hottest Large-Cap Stock So Far in 2025?

We recently published a list of 10 Hottest Large-Cap Stocks So Far in 2025. In this article, we are going to take a look at where KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) stands against other hottest large-cap stocks so far in 2025.

The stock market as a whole hasn’t had a great start to the year, but there have been some outliers. Focusing on these outliers might pay off in the long run and the statistics behind it — especially this month — are very important. The S&P 500’s calendar year performance has matched the direction of January returns approximately 77% of the time. This means when January shows positive returns, the market finishes higher in 84% of these years with an average annual return of 15.5% for the whole year.

Even if January is negative, the market ends higher some 63% of the time, but with a return of around 2.2%. I’m bringing this up because I believe this correlation can also extend to certain stocks. We’ve seen many mega-cap tech stocks perform well last year after a solid January. A lot of big-cap stocks between $50 billion to $100 billion also performed well.

Accordingly, the methodology for this article involves me screening the top 10 stocks traded in U.S. markets with a market capitalization between $50 billion to $100 billion and then sorted by year-to-date performance.

The inner workings of a semiconductor manufacturing facility, neon hued machines humming with activity.

KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC)

• YTD Performance: 10.1%

KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) is a wafer fab company and is a part of the semiconductor industry. The recent performance here is partly due to a recovery from a decline since mid-2024, but I don’t think that’s much of a con. The company’s 5-year performance has been solid, up 292%. The growth metrics here are also stellar and KLA Corp. (NASDAQ:KLAC) grew revenue by 18.6% in Q3 to $2.84 billion and grew its net income by 27.6% to $946 million.

That said, I do not think that the next five years are going to be as stellar. Growth is expected to be more muted around 6-10% in the coming years and the current valuation is more than generous for that sort of growth.

READ NEXT: 8 Best Wide Moat Stocks to Buy Now and 30 Most Important AI Stocks According to BlackRock

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.