Kadant (KAI) Competitors

Kadant (NYSE:KAI) and Graco (NYSE:GGG) are both industrials companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their community ranking, valuation, profitability, institutional ownership, media sentiment, earnings, dividends, risk and analyst recommendations.

Do analysts rate KAI or GGG?

Kadant currently has a consensus target price of $327.50, suggesting a potential upside of 2.83%. Graco has a consensus target price of $93.00, suggesting a potential upside of 10.41%. Given Graco's higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Graco is more favorable than Kadant.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Kadant	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50
Graco	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50

Which has preferable earnings and valuation, KAI or GGG?

Graco has higher revenue and earnings than Kadant. Graco is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Kadant, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Kadant	$1.04B	3.59	$111.60M	$9.42	33.81
Graco	$2.15B	6.55	$486.08M	$2.83	29.76

Is KAI or GGG more profitable?

Graco has a net margin of 23.00% compared to Kadant's net margin of 10.59%. Graco's return on equity of 19.38% beat Kadant's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Kadant	10.59%	14.66%	8.33%
Graco	23.00%	19.38%	16.20%

Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership in KAI or GGG?

96.1% of Kadant shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.9% of Graco shares are held by institutional investors. 1.4% of Kadant shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.2% of Graco shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Does the media prefer KAI or GGG?

In the previous week, Graco had 6 more articles in the media than Kadant. MarketBeat recorded 13 mentions for Graco and 7 mentions for Kadant. Graco's average media sentiment score of 1.28 beat Kadant's score of 1.11 indicating that Graco is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Kadant	4 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Graco	9 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Does the MarketBeat Community favor KAI or GGG?

Graco received 72 more outperform votes than Kadant when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 60.65% of users gave Graco an outperform vote while only 58.03% of users gave Kadant an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Kadant	Outperform Votes 318 58.03%	Underperform Votes 230 41.97%
Graco	Outperform Votes 390 60.65%	Underperform Votes 253 39.35%

Which has more volatility & risk, KAI or GGG?

Kadant has a beta of 1.26, meaning that its stock price is 26% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Graco has a beta of 1.07, meaning that its stock price is 7% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is KAI or GGG a better dividend stock?

Kadant pays an annual dividend of $1.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.4%. Graco pays an annual dividend of $1.10 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. Kadant pays out 14.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Graco pays out 38.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Kadant has increased its dividend for 12 consecutive years and Graco has increased its dividend for 29 consecutive years. Graco is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Summary

Graco beats Kadant on 15 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.