Stocks · Industrials · Industrial - Machinery
Kadant Inc. KAI
$268.83 +2.02% Close, Oct 2, 2026 · NYSE · Market cap $3.17B
High quality
Next earnings report: Nov 3, 2026
Scroll or pinch to zoom, drag to move. Daily prices adjusted for splits. Markers: E = earnings (green beat, red miss), S = split, D = dividend.
Three things to know
- Earnings beat analyst estimates in each of the last 14 quarters (average surprise over the last four: +18.3%).
- The stock is in a downtrend: below its 200-day average, with the 50-day average below the 200-day.
- Revenue over the last four quarters was $1.15B, up 12.5% from a year earlier, accelerating from 4.9% a quarter earlier.
PromtFinance scores
Each score is a percentile within the Industrials sector (0–100). Under each score: how the stock ranks in its sector on every component. As of Oct 5, 2026.
Growth68Positive
How fast revenue, earnings and cash flow are growing.
- Revenue growth (TTM, YoY)Top 35%
- EPS growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 42%
- FCF growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 46%
- Revenue growth, 3-year CAGRTop 48%
- Revenue growth accelerationTop 12%
Quality90Exceptional
Returns on capital, margins, earnings quality and balance-sheet strength.
- Return on invested capitalTop 41%
- Gross marginTop 19%
- Operating marginTop 23%
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Top 43%
- Accruals (lower is better)Bottom 47%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Top 13%
- Interest coverTop 27%
Value72Positive
How cheap the shares are relative to earnings, cash flow and their own history.
- Earnings yieldTop 37%
- Free-cash-flow yieldTop 30%
- EBITDA / enterprise valueTop 27%
- Sales / enterprise valueBottom 40%
- P/E vs own 5-year history (lower is better)Top 32%
Momentum33Weak
Strength and persistence of the price trend, including versus the S&P 500.
- 12-month return excluding last monthBottom 40%
- 6-month returnBottom 37%
- 1-year return vs S&P 500Bottom 35%
- Distance from 52-week highTop 47%
- Trend checklist (0–4)Bottom 15%
Revisions59Neutral
Earnings surprises and analyst sentiment (estimate-revision history is being collected).
- Average EPS surprise, last 4 quartersTop 24%
- Consecutive EPS beatsTop 5%
- Share of analysts rating BuyBottom 5%
- Upside to consensus price targetBottom 41%
Stability69Positive
Low volatility, shallow drawdowns, low market sensitivity and modest leverage.
- Volatility, 60 days (lower is better)Top 31%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 yearsTop 34%
- Beta vs S&P 500 (lower is better)Bottom 30%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Top 13%
What changed
Latest four quarters versus the same period a year earlier (growth: versus one quarter earlier).
| Measure | Before | Now | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (YoY) | 4.9% | 12.5% | ↑ |
| EPS growth (YoY) | -6.9% | 3.6% | ↑ |
| Gross margin | 45.0% | 44.4% | ↓ |
| Operating margin | 15.7% | 15.0% | ↓ |
| FCF margin | 14.7% | 13.9% | ↓ |
Fundamental momentum
| Measure | Now (TTM) | Year / quarter before | Sector rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (TTM, YoY) | 12.5% | 4.9% | ↑ | Top 35% |
| EPS growth (TTM, YoY) | 3.6% | -6.9% | ↑ | Bottom 42% |
| Gross margin | 44.4% | 45.0% | ↓ | Top 19% |
| Operating margin | 15.0% | 15.7% | ↓ | Top 23% |
| Net margin | 9.5% | 10.3% | ↓ | — |
| Free-cash-flow margin | 13.9% | 14.7% | ↓ | — |
| Return on invested capital | 7.4% | — | Top 41% | |
| Revenue growth, 3-year CAGR | 5.2% | — | Top 48% |
Quality of earnings and balance sheet
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Above 1× means profits are backed by cash.
- 1.67×
- Accruals (net income − OCF) / assetsLower is better; high accruals can signal weaker earnings quality.
- -3.9%
- Stock-based compensation / revenueA cost to shareholders through dilution.
- 0.5%
- Receivables growth vs revenue growthReceivables growing much faster than sales can be a warning.
- -9.4 pp
- Net debt / EBITDABelow 1× is conservative; above 3× is high leverage.
- -0.54×
- Interest cover (operating income / interest)How many times operating profit covers interest.
- 9.5×
Shareholder returns
- Dividend yield (dividends paid, TTM)
- 0.51%
- Net buyback yield (TTM)
- 0.08%
- Shareholder yield
- 0.59%
- Share count change, 1 year
- +0.3%
- Share count change, 3-year CAGR
- +0.3%
Shareholder yield = dividends + net buybacks over the last four quarters, divided by market cap.
Based on the four quarters through Jul 4, 2026 (filed Aug 12, 2026).
Earnings and expectations
Earnings momentum
- Consecutive EPS beats
- 14
- Beats in the last 8 reports
- 8 of 8
- Average EPS surprise, last 4
- +18.3%
- Average 2-day reaction, last 8
- -0.4%
- Positive 20 days after report
- 3 of 8
Analysts
- Consensus price target
- $335.00
- Target vs current price
- +24.6%
- Analysts with a rating
- 6
- Share rating Buy or Strong Buy
- 17%
- Consensus rating
- Hold
How the stock reacted to recent reports
| Report date | EPS surprise | 2 days | 5 days | 20 days | 60 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 4, 2026 | +16.3% | +3.2% | +2.7% | -7.8% | — |
| May 5, 2026 | +34.6% | +0.9% | +16.6% | +12.3% | +7.5% |
| Feb 18, 2026 | +3.7% | -3.9% | +0.7% | -9.5% | -1.3% |
| Oct 28, 2025 | +18.8% | -1.7% | -8.9% | -10.4% | +6.4% |
| Jul 29, 2025 | +19.1% | +0.1% | -6.0% | -1.0% | -12.3% |
| Apr 29, 2025 | +6.6% | +0.6% | -6.5% | +3.0% | +8.2% |
| Feb 12, 2025 | +8.2% | -2.1% | +8.4% | -5.4% | -17.5% |
| Oct 29, 2024 | +16.9% | -0.5% | +8.5% | +30.0% | +17.9% |
Returns from the close before each report. Past reactions do not determine future ones.
Earnings history
| Report date | EPS | Estimate | Surprise | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 4, 2026 | $3.42 | $2.94 | +16.3% | $312.9M |
| May 5, 2026 | $2.84 | $2.11 | +34.6% | $281.5M |
| Feb 18, 2026 | $2.27 | $2.19 | +3.7% | $286.2M |
| Oct 28, 2025 | $2.59 | $2.18 | +18.8% | $271.6M |
| Jul 29, 2025 | $2.31 | $1.94 | +19.1% | $255.3M |
| Apr 29, 2025 | $2.10 | $1.97 | +6.6% | $239.2M |
| Feb 12, 2025 | $2.25 | $2.08 | +8.2% | $258.0M |
| Oct 29, 2024 | $2.84 | $2.43 | +16.9% | $271.6M |
Valuation in context
| Multiple | Now | 5-year median | 5-year percentile | Sector rank (cheapness) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P/E (trailing) | 28.9× | 30.9× | 38th | Top 37% |
| P/E (forward) | 21.4× | — | — | — |
| EV / EBITDA | 12.2× | — | — | Top 27% |
| EV / Sales | 2.64× | — | — | Bottom 40% |
| Free-cash-flow yield | 5.04% | — | — | Top 30% |
| Earnings yield | 3.46% | — | — | Top 37% |
P/E over the past five years
Range 17.4× – 39.9× since Jul 3, 2021. Each point: price on the filing date divided by trailing-twelve-month EPS known then.
What moved the stock over the past year
- Price return, 1 year
- -8.8%
- Earnings per share growth (TTM)
- +3.6%
- Change in P/E multiple
- -0.4%
Most of the move came from earnings growth.
Technical state
Trend checklist
- ✗ Price above 20-day average
- ✗ Price above 50-day average
- ✗ Price above 200-day average
- ✗ 50-day average above 200-day
- ✓ MACD histogram positive
Trend quality
- Days above the 50-day average
- 0
- Days above the 200-day average
- 0
- 50-day average slope (20 days)
- -4.2%
- 200-day average slope (20 days)
- -0.1%
- Distance from 50-day average
- -10.2%
- Distance from 200-day average
- -13.2%
- RSI (14)
- 39.5
- Relative volume
- 1.13×
Risk and drawdowns
- Volatility, 60 days (annualized)
- 34.5%
- Volatility vs own 5-year history
- 59th percentile · Normal for this stock
- Beta vs S&P 500 (2 years, weekly)
- 1.36
- Correlation with S&P 500
- 0.52
- Current drawdown from 1-year high
- -22.6%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 years
- -41.5%
Largest declines in the past six years
| From peak | To low | Decline | Length | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 26, 2024 | Nov 18, 2025 | -41.5% | 244 days | Not yet recovered |
| Nov 23, 2021 | Oct 7, 2022 | -34.2% | 219 days | 270 days (Nov 3, 2023) |
| Feb 15, 2024 | May 1, 2024 | -23.2% | 52 days | 51 days (Jul 16, 2024) |
| Jul 30, 2024 | Aug 12, 2024 | -18.6% | 9 days | 60 days (Nov 5, 2024) |
| Apr 6, 2021 | May 20, 2021 | -12.3% | 32 days | 52 days (Aug 4, 2021) |
Declines of 10% or more from a closing high, measured on daily closes.
Financial statements
- Market cap
- $3.17B
- P/E (TTM)
- 28.9
- EPS, diluted (TTM)
- $9.30
- Revenue (TTM)
- $1.15B
- Dividend yield
- 0.65%
- 52-week range
- $244.87 – $354.07
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $786.6M | $904.7M | $957.7M | $1.05B | $1.05B |
| Gross profit | $337.4M | $389.6M | $416.3M | $466.1M | $475.7M |
| Operating income | $116.7M | $171.3M | $165.8M | $171.3M | $157.3M |
| Net income | $84.0M | $120.9M | $116.1M | $111.6M | $102.0M |
| EPS (diluted) | $7.21 | $10.35 | $9.90 | $9.48 | $8.65 |
| Q3 2024 | Q4 2024 | Q1 2025 | Q2 2025 | Q3 2025 | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 | Q2 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $271.6M | $258.0M | $239.2M | $255.3M | $271.6M | $286.2M | $281.5M | $312.9M |
| Net income | $31.6M | $24.0M | $24.1M | $26.2M | $27.7M | $24.0M | $25.5M | $32.5M |
| EPS (diluted) | $2.68 | $2.04 | $2.04 | $2.22 | $2.35 | $2.04 | $2.16 | $2.75 |
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | $162.4M | $102.6M | $165.5M | $155.3M | $171.3M |
| Capital expenditure | -$12.8M | -$28.2M | -$31.9M | -$21.0M | -$17.0M |
| Free cash flow | $149.6M | $74.4M | $133.7M | $134.3M | $154.3M |
| Dividends paid | -$11.5M | -$12.0M | -$13.2M | -$14.7M | -$15.8M |
| Net share buybacks | $1.9M | $1.4M | -$3.9M | $1.6M | $4.6M |
Cash outflows are shown as negative numbers.
- Cash and short-term investments
- $134.5M
- Total assets
- $1.89B
- Total liabilities
- $855.5M
- Total debt
- $0
- Net debt
- -$134.5M
- Shareholders’ equity
- $1.02B
As of Jul 4, 2026 (filed Aug 12, 2026).
Dividends
| Ex-date | Amount | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 15, 2026 | $0.36 | Nov 12, 2026 |
| Jul 16, 2026 | $0.36 | Aug 13, 2026 |
| Apr 15, 2026 | $0.36 | May 13, 2026 |
| Jan 8, 2026 | $0.34 | Feb 5, 2026 |
| Oct 9, 2025 | $0.34 | Nov 6, 2025 |
| Jul 10, 2025 | $0.34 | Aug 7, 2025 |
| Apr 9, 2025 | $0.34 | May 7, 2025 |
| Jan 10, 2025 | $0.32 | Feb 6, 2025 |
Short interest
- Shares sold short
- 999,653
- Days to cover
- 5.08
- Change vs previous report
- +6.0%
FINRA short interest, settlement date Sep 15, 2026.
Stock splits
- Jul 12, 2001
- 1-for-5
- Jun 27, 1996
- 3-for-2
- Sep 18, 1995
- 3-for-2