Kadant (KAI) Competitors

Kadant (NYSE:KAI) and IDEX (NYSE:IEX) are both industrials companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, media sentiment, valuation, institutional ownership, earnings, dividends, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Which has better valuation and earnings, KAI or IEX?

IDEX has higher revenue and earnings than Kadant. IDEX 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	$1.05B	3.69	$111.60M	$9.42	35.02
IDEX	$3.27B	4.19	$505M	$6.31	28.72

Is KAI or IEX more profitable?

IDEX has a net margin of 14.60% compared to Kadant's net margin of 10.63%. IDEX's return on equity of 15.51% beat Kadant's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Kadant	10.63%	13.74%	8.10%
IDEX	14.60%	15.51%	8.91%

Is KAI or IEX a better dividend stock?

Kadant pays an annual dividend of $1.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.4%. IDEX pays an annual dividend of $2.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. Kadant pays out 14.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. IDEX pays out 45.0% 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 raised its dividend for 12 consecutive years and IDEX has raised its dividend for 16 consecutive years. IDEX is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Does the media favor KAI or IEX?

In the previous week, IDEX had 5 more articles in the media than Kadant. MarketBeat recorded 12 mentions for IDEX and 7 mentions for Kadant. Kadant's average media sentiment score of 1.22 beat IDEX's score of 1.08 indicating that Kadant is being referred to more favorably in the 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
IDEX	7 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts recommend KAI or IEX?

Kadant presently has a consensus target price of $327.50, suggesting a potential downside of 0.72%. IDEX has a consensus target price of $212.50, suggesting a potential upside of 17.24%. Given IDEX's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe IDEX 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
IDEX	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.75

Which has more volatility & risk, KAI or IEX?

Kadant has a beta of 1.25, meaning that its share price is 25% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, IDEX has a beta of 1.04, meaning that its share price is 4% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Do insiders & institutionals believe in KAI or IEX?

96.1% of Kadant shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 98.0% of IDEX shares are held by institutional investors. 1.4% of Kadant shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of IDEX shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

IDEX beats Kadant on 13 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.