KLA-Tencor 'now too interesting to ignore' for Cowen and Company, upgraded to Outperform

• Sets $80 price target (current price $68.88).
• Analyst Timothy Arcuri sees Lam Research (LRCX +1%) a better investment resulting from a potential merger with KLA-Tencor (KLAC +1.9%), though remains positive on the latter regardless. He cites a 3 to 1 risk to reward upside ratio with or without a deal.
• A finalized agreement between the companies has been anticipated since last October, though regulatory hurdles have continued to delay the process. Arcuri further attributes possible closed-door hesitancy to the Lam Research side.
• KLA-Tencor is up around 30% since right before (October 19, 2015) the merger was proposed, with Lam Research up around 40% over the same period.