Kadant (NYSE:KAI) Raised to Strong-Buy at Zacks Research

Kadant (NYSE:KAI) was upgraded by analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on KAI. Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $380.00 price target on shares of Kadant in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Kadant in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, DA Davidson set a $303.00 price target on shares of Kadant in a research report on Friday, February 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $341.50.

Kadant Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:KAI opened at $323.35 on Tuesday. Kadant has a fifty-two week low of $244.87 and a fifty-two week high of $369.97. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $319.74 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $303.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 2.38. The firm has a market cap of $3.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.38 and a beta of 1.26.

Kadant (NYSE:KAI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The industrial products company reported $2.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.19 by $0.61. Kadant had a return on equity of 11.57% and a net margin of 9.69%.The business had revenue of $286.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $274.43 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.25 EPS. Kadant’s revenue was up 10.9% on a year-over-year basis. Kadant has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.780-1.880 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 10.500-10.750 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Kadant will post 11.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in KAI. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Kadant by 11.2% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,763 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $931,000 after acquiring an additional 279 shares during the period. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC grew its stake in shares of Kadant by 8.6% during the 1st quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 907 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $306,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Kadant by 4.7% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 6,985 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,353,000 after acquiring an additional 311 shares during the period. United Services Automobile Association bought a new position in shares of Kadant during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $255,000. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its stake in shares of Kadant by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 30,974 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $10,435,000 after acquiring an additional 441 shares during the period. 96.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.