Kadant (NYSE:KAI) Receives "Outperform" Rating from Barrington Research

Key Points

• Barrington Research reissued an "Outperform" rating on Kadant with a $380 price target, implying roughly a 33.6% upside from the prior close.
• Kadant reported a quarterly beat with $2.80 EPS (vs. $2.19 expected) and $286.2M revenue (vs. $274.43M expected), and provided Q1 2026 guidance of 1.780–1.880 EPS and FY 2026 guidance of 10.500–10.750 EPS.
• Analyst coverage is mixed but tilted positive — one Strong Buy, one Buy and two Holds — leaving an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $341.50.

Kadant (NYSE:KAI - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "outperform" rating reissued by investment analysts at Barrington Research in a note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $380.00 price target on the industrial products company's stock. Barrington Research's price objective suggests a potential upside of 33.56% from the stock's previous close.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on KAI. Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Kadant in a report on Friday, March 27th. Zacks Research raised shares of Kadant from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, DA Davidson set a $303.00 price objective on shares of Kadant in a research note on Friday, February 20th. 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 company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Kadant has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $341.50.

Kadant Price Performance

Shares of KAI opened at $284.51 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 2.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The stock has a market cap of $3.36 billion, a PE ratio of 32.95 and a beta of 1.19. Kadant has a 12-month low of $244.87 and a 12-month high of $369.97. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $317.39 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $304.71.

Kadant (NYSE:KAI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The industrial products company reported $2.80 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.19 by $0.61. The firm had revenue of $286.20 million for 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%.During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.25 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter 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. Analysts anticipate that Kadant will post 12.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KAI. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Kadant by 11.2% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,763 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $931,000 after purchasing an additional 279 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in Kadant by 8.6% in the first quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 907 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $306,000 after buying an additional 72 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its position in Kadant by 4.7% during the first 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 last quarter. United Services Automobile Association acquired a new stake in Kadant during the 1st quarter worth about $255,000. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its position in shares of Kadant by 1.4% in 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 worth $10,435,000 after acquiring an additional 441 shares in the last quarter. 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.

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