Kadant’s (KAI) “Outperform” Rating Reiterated at Barrington Research

Kadant (NYSE:KAI)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reiterated by equities research analysts at Barrington Research in a note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $380.00 price target on the industrial products company’s stock. Barrington Research’s target price points to a potential upside of 12.77% from the company’s previous close.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on KAI. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Kadant in a report on Monday, December 29th. DA Davidson set a $303.00 target price on shares of Kadant in a research report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $341.50.

Kadant Stock Performance

KAI traded up $9.45 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $336.97. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 179,572 shares, compared to its average volume of 142,690. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $314.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $304.55. The firm has a market cap of $3.97 billion, a PE ratio of 39.02 and a beta of 1.25. Kadant has a one year low of $244.87 and a one year high of $387.53. The company has a quick ratio of 5.22, a current ratio of 8.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

Kadant (NYSE:KAI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The industrial products company reported $2.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.19 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $286.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $274.43 million. Kadant had a return on equity of 11.57% and a net margin of 9.69%.Kadant’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.25 earnings per share. Kadant has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.780-1.880 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 10.500-10.750 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Kadant will post 9.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kadant

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. CWM LLC increased its holdings in Kadant by 102.3% in the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 87 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Kadant by 1,300.0% in the 3rd quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 84 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the period. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Kadant during the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. Kestra Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in Kadant during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Finally, Danske Bank A S acquired a new stake in shares of Kadant during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.13% of the company’s stock.

About Kadant

Kadant Inc, headquartered in Westford, Massachusetts, is a global supplier of high‐value, critical components and engineered systems for the pulp and paper industry and other process industries. The company’s product portfolio spans stock preparation technologies, refiners and pulpers, fluid handling systems, and web‐handling equipment designed to optimize the efficiency and quality of paper production. In addition to capital equipment, Kadant offers aftermarket services, including spare parts, maintenance programs and process optimization consulting, which together support long‐term customer productivity and reliability.

Originally part of a larger industrial conglomerate, Kadant was established as an independent public company in 1991.