Kadant (NYSE:KAI) Issues Q2 2024 Earnings Guidance

Kadant (NYSE:KAI) updated its second quarter 2024 earnings guidance on Tuesday. The company provided earnings per share guidance of 2.400-2.500 for the period, compared to the consensus earnings per share estimate of 2.530. The company issued revenue guidance of $258.0 million-$266.0 million, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $266.1 million. Kadant also updated its FY 2024 guidance to 9.750-10.050 EPS.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

KAI has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded Kadant from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Barrington Research reissued an outperform rating and issued a $360.00 price objective on shares of Kadant in a research note on Monday.

Kadant Price Performance

Shares of Kadant stock traded down $13.37 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $273.79. The company had a trading volume of 123,379 shares, compared to its average volume of 92,549. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $311.80 and a 200 day simple moving average of $282.12. The company has a market capitalization of $3.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.66 and a beta of 1.28. Kadant has a 1-year low of $183.67 and a 1-year high of $354.02. The company has a current ratio of 2.05, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Kadant (NYSE:KAI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The industrial products company reported $2.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.10 by $0.31. Kadant had a net margin of 12.12% and a return on equity of 16.20%. The company had revenue of $238.68 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $227.54 million. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Kadant will post 9.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Kadant Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be given a $0.32 dividend. This is a positive change from Kadant’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. Kadant’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 12.93%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Thomas C. Leonard sold 217 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $323.81, for a total value of $70,266.77. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 11,080 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,587,814.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Stacy D. Krause sold 881 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $327.00, for a total transaction of $288,087.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Thomas C. Leonard sold 217 shares of Kadant stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $323.81, for a total value of $70,266.77. Following the transaction, the director now owns 11,080 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,587,814.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 8,798 shares of company stock valued at $2,899,004 over the last three months. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

About Kadant

Kadant Inc supplies technologies and engineered systems worldwide. It operates in three segments: Flow Control, Industrial Processing, and Material Handling. The Flow Control segment develops, manufactures, and markets fluid-handling systems and equipment, such as rotary joints, syphons, turbulator bars, expansion joints, and engineered steam and condensate systems; and doctoring, cleaning, and filtration systems and related consumables consisting of doctor systems and holders, doctor blades, cleaning shower and fabric-conditioning systems, forming systems and wear surfaces, and water-filtration systems.