Kadant (NYSE:KAI) Releases FY 2026 Earnings Guidance

Kadant (NYSE:KAI) issued an update on its FY 2026 earnings guidance on Tuesday morning. The company provided earnings per share guidance of 12.330-12.680 for the period, compared to the consensus earnings per share estimate of 11.790. The company issued revenue guidance of $1.2 billion-$1.2 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $1.2 billion. Kadant also updated its Q2 2026 guidance to 2.880-2.980 EPS.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on KAI shares. DA Davidson set a $303.00 price objective on shares of Kadant in a report on Friday, February 20th. Zacks Research raised shares of Kadant from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Barrington Research restated an “outperform” rating and set a $380.00 price target on shares of Kadant in a research note on Monday. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Kadant in a report on Friday, March 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $341.50.

Kadant Stock Performance

KAI traded up $14.71 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $342.23. The stock had a trading volume of 312,007 shares, compared to its average volume of 174,239. Kadant has a 1 year low of $244.87 and a 1 year high of $369.97. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $316.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $305.19. The stock has a market cap of $4.04 billion, a PE ratio of 39.02 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 8.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

Kadant (NYSE:KAI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The industrial products company reported $2.84 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.11 by $0.73. The business had revenue of $281.51 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $274.95 million. Kadant had a net margin of 9.45% and a return on equity of 12.13%. The company’s revenue was up 17.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.10 earnings per share. Kadant has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.880-2.980 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 12.330-12.680 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Kadant will post 12.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Kadant Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 13th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 15th will be issued a $0.36 dividend. This is a boost from Kadant’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 15th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. Kadant’s payout ratio is 16.65%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kadant

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Kadant by 9.4% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 374 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $107,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Kadant by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 76,769 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $21,881,000 after purchasing an additional 3,604 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Kadant by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 33,247 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $9,476,000 after acquiring an additional 1,073 shares during the period. Alberta Investment Management Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Kadant in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,340,000. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its stake in Kadant by 26.2% in the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 1,079 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $308,000 after purchasing an additional 224 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.13% of the company’s stock.

Kadant Company Profile

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.