Kadant (NYSE:KAI) Updates 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.

Kadant Stock Up 0.7%

KAI stock traded up $1.90 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $288.23. The stock had a trading volume of 130,407 shares, compared to its average volume of 157,134. Kadant has a 52-week low of $244.87 and a 52-week high of $369.97. The firm has a market cap of $3.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.32 and a beta of 1.19. The business has a 50-day moving average of $317.39 and a two-hundred day moving average of $304.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 2.38 and a quick ratio of 1.47.

Kadant (NYSE:KAI) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The industrial products company reported $2.84 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.11 by $0.73. Kadant had a return on equity of 11.57% and a net margin of 9.69%.The firm had revenue of $281.51 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $274.95 million. Kadant has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.880-2.980 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 12.330-12.680 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Kadant will post 12.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kadant Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 13th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 15th will be paid a $0.36 dividend. This is an increase from Kadant’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 15th. Kadant’s payout ratio is currently 16.65%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Institutional Trading of Kadant

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Wasatch Advisors LP increased its position in Kadant by 3.6% in the second quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 984,193 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $312,432,000 after buying an additional 34,561 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in Kadant by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 456,721 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $130,175,000 after buying an additional 15,446 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Kadant by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 279,029 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $79,537,000 after buying an additional 10,249 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in Kadant by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 190,951 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $54,426,000 after buying an additional 539 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. increased its position in Kadant by 10.5% in the fourth quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 151,840 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $43,277,000 after buying an additional 14,476 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.