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Makes process equipment for papermaking, wood processing and industrial filtration/separation used by manufacturers worldwide.
Makes process equipment for papermaking, wood processing and industrial filtration/separation used by manufacturers worldwide.
Sells large machines to paper and packaging mills and then earns repeat revenue from replacement parts and consumables, such as the blades and covers that wear out on paper machines, which makes demand steadier than machine sales. It has also bought many small industrial companies to broaden beyond paper.
Moat: narrow (installed base, process know-how, switching costs). Long-lived installed equipment base and recurring parts/service revenue create switching costs.
Headquarters: Westford, Massachusetts, United States · Founded: 1991 · Employees: 3,900
Size Kadant (KAI) is a United States Industrials company (Industrial Machinery) with a market value of $3.46B, the 1443rd largest of 3,117 United States companies the cockpit tracks. Shares closed at $292.74 on 6 Nov 2026.
Performance Over six months the shares fell 13.6%, against -13.8% for the median peer and -1.1% for the United States market (cap-weighted) — 11th highest of 21 in its peer set.
Growth Revenue grew 16.6% over the last twelve months (peer median +10.0%); the operating margin is 15.7% (peer median 8.8%).
Valuation It trades at 21.7× forward earnings against a peer median of 28.1× (9th cheapest of 19).
Price implies For today's price to make sense, revenue must grow about 15% a year for seven years (Req g). Recent delivered growth is +11%, so the hurdle is +5 pp: the price needs faster growth than the company has been delivering — of companies that just grew 25–50% a year, 93.8% slowed down over the next four years.
Capital Return on invested capital runs 0.5 points above its cost of capital (10.2% WACC).
Backlog Backlog (remaining performance obligations) was $32.7M at 4 Jul 2026, down 4% on a year earlier — 0.0 years of trailing revenue. Backlog detail →
Short interest Short interest is 7.6% of the free float (15 Oct 2026).
Next results Next results expected around 17 Feb 2027 (exchange calendar; dates can move).
| TTM | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $1.19B | $1.05B | $1.05B | $958M | $905M |
| Revenue growth | — | 0% | +10% | +6% | — |
| Gross profit | $529M | $476M | $466M | $416M | $390M |
| EBITDA | $249M | $214M | $224M | $202M | $189M |
| Net income | $117M | $102M | $112M | $116M | $121M |
| Free cash flow | n/a | $154M | $134M | $134M | $74.4M |
| Capital expenditure | n/a | $17.0M | $21.0M | $31.9M | $28.2M |
| Total debt | $455M | $416M | $323M | $136M | $223M |
The default views of Competitor Analysis ▸ Charts, drawn from the same data. Open them in the cockpit to change the axes, pin companies and read every value.
| Company | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kadant KAI | $3.46B | -14% | +17% | 16% | 21.7× | 15.5% |
| Valmet VALMT.HE | $5.97B | +30% | +3% | 10% | 13.8× | 2.1% |
Peer set: Industry: the same industry and sector in any market, nearest in size. This is the same default set the interactive Competitor Analysis opens with.
| Measure | KAI | Peer median | Rank in peer set |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-month return | +12.3% | -6.3% | 3rd highest of 21 |
| 6-month return | -13.6% | -13.8% | 11th highest of 21 |
| Distance from 52-week high | -17.3% | -40.9% | 2nd highest of 21 |
| Revenue growth (TTM) | +16.6% | +10.0% | 9th highest of 21 |
| Operating margin | 15.7% | 8.8% | 6th highest of 21 |
| Forward P/E | 21.7× | 28.1× | 9th cheapest of 19 |
| Growth the price implies (Req g, 7 yrs) | 15.5% | 20.9% | 5th least demanding of 12 |
| Growth delivered (Del g) | +10.6% | +11.4% | 6th lowest of 12 |
| Hurdle (Req g minus delivered) | +4.8 pp | +9.1 pp | 6th least demanding of 12 |
| ROIC minus cost of capital | +0.5 pp | -0.5 pp | 10th highest of 21 |
| EV / EBITDA | 15.2× | 14.3× | 5th most expensive of 10 |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 1.3× | -0.1× | most indebted of 10 |
| Company | Market | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g | Delivered g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kadant KAI | United States | $3.46B | -14% | +17% | 16% | 21.7× | 15.5% | +10.6% |
| Thermax THERMAX.NS | India | $3.46B | -34% | +5% | 6% | 43.6× | n/a | n/a |
| Shenzhen Zhaowei Machinery & Electronics 003021.SZ | China | $3.45B | +6% | 0% | 9% | 124.4× | 46.0% | +7.5% |
| Blue Star BLUESTARCO.NS | India | $3.43B | -10% | +9% | 5% | 56.0× | n/a | n/a |
| Guangdong Shenling Environmental Systems 301018.SZ | China | $3.42B | -27% | +45% | 5% | 64.8× | n/a | n/a |
| Anhui Yingliu Electromechanical 603308.SS | China | $3.50B | -58% | +38% | 13% | 42.0× | n/a | n/a |
| Jiangsu Lettall Electronic 603629.SS | China | $3.41B | -40% | +27% | 34% | n/a | 4.8% | +15.0% |
| THK 6481.T | Japan | $3.52B | -16% | +8% | 7% | 10.6× | 24.8% | +1.9% |
| Moon Environment Technology 000811.SZ | China | $3.34B | -10% | +27% | 10% | 25.8× | 20.9% | +11.8% |
| Kaori Heat Treatment 8996.TW | Taiwan | $3.34B | -1% | +108% | 16% | 42.6× | 46.0% | +25.9% |
| SINOMACH Heavy Equipment 601399.SS | China | $3.33B | -28% | 0% | 4% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Danieli & C. Officine Meccaniche DAN.MI | Italy | $3.60B | -24% | -8% | -6% | 13.5× | n/a | n/a |
| Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials 300260.SZ | China | $3.61B | -12% | +11% | 8% | 73.2× | n/a | n/a |
| Haitian International 1882.HK | Hong Kong | $3.64B | -18% | +8% | 17% | 7.4× | -11.5% | +7.7% |
| Sumitomo Heavy Industries 6302.T | Japan | $3.64B | -10% | +9% | 6% | 13.0× | 6.3% | +4.3% |
| Estun Automation 002747.SZ | China | $3.65B | +30% | +8% | 4% | 104.6× | 48.2% | +14.3% |
| Carel Industries CRL.MI | Italy | $3.24B | -11% | +17% | 15% | 30.5× | 23.3% | +13.7% |
| Zijin Longking 600388.SS | China | $3.70B | -6% | +13% | 11% | 17.4× | n/a | n/a |
| Mueller Water Products MWA | United States | $3.75B | -9% | +6% | 21% | 15.3× | 2.4% | +5.8% |
| Ningbo Zhenyu Technology 300953.SZ | China | $3.77B | -35% | +58% | 6% | 21.2× | n/a | n/a |
| Tokyo Seimitsu 7729.T | Japan | $3.16B | -29% | +17% | 22% | 15.2× | 16.0% | +11.4% |
Kadant reported $32.7M of remaining performance obligations at 4 Jul 2026, down 4% from a year earlier and up 23% from the previous quarter. That is 0.0 years of trailing revenue already under contract. Book-to-bill last quarter: 1.02.