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.

Overall, KLAC ranks 6th on our list of hottest large-cap stocks so far in 2025. While we acknowledge the potential of KLAC as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than KLAC but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.

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.