Kadant (KAI) Competitors $326.90 +8.80 (+2.77%) As of 07/8/2025 03:59 PM Eastern Add Compare Share Share Competitors Stock AnalysisAnalyst ForecastsChartCompetitorsDividendEarningsFinancialsHeadlinesInsider TradesOptions ChainOwnershipSEC FilingsShort InterestTrendsBuy This Stock KAI vs. FELE, LECO, AIN, DOV, FBIN, HI, ITT, NPO, PH, and WTSShould you be buying Kadant stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Kadant include Franklin Electric (FELE), Lincoln Electric (LECO), Albany International (AIN), Dover (DOV), Fortune Brands Innovations (FBIN), Hillenbrand (HI), ITT (ITT), Enpro (NPO), Parker-Hannifin (PH), and Watts Water Technologies (WTS). Kadant vs. Its Competitors Franklin Electric Lincoln Electric Albany International Dover Fortune Brands Innovations Hillenbrand ITT Enpro Parker-Hannifin Watts Water Technologies Franklin Electric (NASDAQ:FELE) and Kadant (NYSE:KAI) are both mid-cap industrials companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, valuation, profitability, earnings, risk, analyst recommendations and media sentiment. Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership in FELE or KAI? 80.0% of Franklin Electric shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 96.1% of Kadant shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.7% of Franklin Electric shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.2% of Kadant shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term. Do analysts recommend FELE or KAI? Franklin Electric currently has a consensus price target of $94.00, indicating a potential upside of 2.20%. Kadant has a consensus price target of $327.50, indicating a potential upside of 0.18%. Given Franklin Electric's higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Franklin Electric is more favorable than Kadant.Company Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score Franklin Electric 0 Sell rating(s) 1 Hold rating(s) 0 Buy rating(s) 0 Strong Buy rating(s) 2.00Kadant 0 Sell rating(s) 1 Hold rating(s) 1 Buy rating(s) 0 Strong Buy rating(s) 2.50 Is FELE or KAI more profitable? Kadant has a net margin of 10.63% compared to Franklin Electric's net margin of 8.85%. Franklin Electric's return on equity of 14.08% beat Kadant's return on equity.Company Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets Franklin Electric8.85% 14.08% 9.72% Kadant 10.63%13.74%8.10% Does the media prefer FELE or KAI? In the previous week, Franklin Electric had 4 more articles in the media than Kadant. MarketBeat recorded 10 mentions for Franklin Electric and 6 mentions for Kadant. Kadant's average media sentiment score of 0.89 beat Franklin Electric's score of 0.77 indicating that Kadant is being referred to more favorably in the news media. Company Very Positive Positive Neutral Negative Very Negative Overall Sentiment Franklin Electric 3 Very Positive mention(s) 3 Positive mention(s) 4 Neutral mention(s) 0 Negative mention(s) 0 Very Negative mention(s) Positive Kadant 3 Very Positive mention(s) 1 Positive mention(s) 2 Neutral mention(s) 0 Negative mention(s) 0 Very Negative mention(s) Positive Which has better earnings & valuation, FELE or KAI? Franklin Electric has higher revenue and earnings than Kadant. Franklin Electric is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Kadant, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks. CompanyGross RevenuePrice/Sales RatioNet IncomeEarnings Per SharePrice/Earnings RatioFranklin Electric$2.02B2.08$180.31M$3.8224.08Kadant$1.05B3.66$111.60M$9.4234.70 Is FELE or KAI a better dividend stock? Franklin Electric pays an annual dividend of $1.06 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Kadant pays an annual dividend of $1.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.4%. Franklin Electric pays out 27.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Kadant pays out 14.4% 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. Franklin Electric has increased its dividend for 33 consecutive years and Kadant has increased its dividend for 12 consecutive years. Franklin Electric is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth. Which has more risk & volatility, FELE or KAI? Franklin Electric has a beta of 1.07, suggesting that its stock price is 7% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Kadant has a beta of 1.25, suggesting that its stock price is 25% more volatile than the S&P 500. SummaryKadant beats Franklin Electric on 10 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks. Get Kadant News Delivered to You Automatically Sign up to receive the latest news and ratings for KAI and its competitors with MarketBeat's FREE daily newsletter. Email Address New MarketBeat Followers Over TimeWhat are MarkeBeat Followers?This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding KAI and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period. Skip ChartMedia Sentiment Over TimeWhat is Media Sentiment?This chart shows the average media sentiment of NYSE and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.Skip Chart KAI vs. The Competition Export to ExcelMetricKadantMACH IndustryIndustrials SectorNYSE ExchangeMarket Cap$3.75B$12.83B$7.50B$20.52BDividend Yield0.43%23.76%4.54%3.78%P/E Ratio34.7028.5024.7727.79Price / Sales3.665.26116.0840.48Price / Cash21.9116.2427.3122.26Price / Book4.473.854.354.58Net Income$111.60M$511.25M$790.28M$982.91M7 Day Performance-0.81%0.19%1.56%0.41%1 Month Performance-1.94%6.84%4.65%3.59%1 Year Performance8.39%36.59%31.98%14.47% Kadant Competitors List Export to ExcelCompanyMarketRankShare PriceAnalysts' Price Target1Y Price PerformanceMarket CapRevenueP/E RatioEmployee CountIndicator(s)KAIKadant1.7678 of 5 stars$326.90+2.8%$327.50+0.2%+9.1%$3.75B$1.05B34.703,500FELEFranklin Electric4.3857 of 5 stars$89.74-0.6%$94.00+4.7%-3.0%$4.12B$2.02B23.496,300News CoverageLECOLincoln Electric3.3218 of 5 stars$207.32-0.9%$206.40-0.4%+17.8%$11.68B$4.01B25.5612,000Positive NewsAINAlbany International3.6584 of 5 stars$70.20+1.0%$79.00+12.5%-14.7%$2.10B$1.23B28.315,400News CoverageHigh Trading VolumeDOVDover4.7057 of 5 stars$183.34+0.0%$208.58+13.8%+6.8%$25.13B$7.75B11.0424,000Trending NewsFBINFortune Brands Innovations4.4606 of 5 stars$51.52+0.4%$77.17+49.8%-17.6%$6.17B$4.61B12.9511,000News CoverageHIHillenbrand4.5315 of 5 stars$20.10-1.6%$32.00+59.2%-41.6%$1.44B$3.18B6.7610,450ITTITT4.2999 of 5 stars$156.93-0.6%$165.50+5.5%+24.4%$12.43B$3.63B24.9511,700NPOEnpro3.4872 of 5 stars$191.63+0.2%$202.50+5.7%+37.9%$4.02B$1.05B47.673,500Positive NewsPHParker-Hannifin4.5075 of 5 stars$698.99-0.2%$719.71+3.0%+39.0%$89.51B$19.93B26.9261,120Positive NewsWTSWatts Water Technologies4.0841 of 5 stars$246.51+0.2%$231.20-6.2%+42.6%$8.21B$2.25B28.244,800 Related Companies and Tools Related Companies Franklin Electric Competitors Lincoln Electric Competitors Albany International Competitors Dover Competitors Fortune Brands Innovations Competitors Hillenbrand Competitors ITT Competitors Enpro Competitors Parker-Hannifin Competitors Watts Water Technologies Competitors Top 10 Stock Comparisons Semiconductor Stocks Artificial Intelligence Stocks Growth Stocks Magnificent Seven Stocks Pharmaceutical Stocks Ecommerce Stocks Bitcoin Stocks Meme Stocks Cryptocurrency Stocks Cybersecurity Stocks This page (NYSE:KAI) was last updated on 7/9/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff From Our PartnersA grave, grave error.I thought what happened 25 years ago was a once- in-a-lifetime event… but how wrong I was. 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