KAIKadant Inc.
Is the business good?
The checks split: earnings fully cash-backed (1.5×), but margins compressing.
Mixed fundamental signals. Nine pass/fail tests of year-over-year health from the filings.
Operating profit is fully backed by cash.
Negative operating leverage, costs are rising faster than sales, squeezing margins as it grows.
A balanced mix of margins, efficiency, and leverage. ROE 11% = margin × turnover × leverage.
Unless marked, from derived.
Against the whole market›
Percentile against every name Ryufin tracks. Higher is better; the tick marks the middle of the market. Context, not one of the checks above.
Where this answer is blind. The F-score rewards improvement, so an already-elite company can score mid-pack.
How good a business is KAI?
Kadant Inc. earns 9.8% on the capital it employs against a 9.0% cost of capital, so the business is worth more the bigger it gets.
Return on invested capital · cost of capital 9.0% · 0.79 points above what the capital costs: growth creates value
- Operating margin
- 15%
Operating margin · Specialty Industrial Machinery median 14% · 12 months to Q2 2026
- Cash conversion
- 1.49×
Cash conversion · 1.42× a year ago · operating cash flow covers the operating profit after tax
- Share count, year on year
- +0.22%
Share count, year on year · flat: no meaningful dilution
| Year | Operating margin |
|---|---|
| FY2020 | 13% |
| FY2021 | 15% |
| FY2022 | 19% |
| FY2023 | 17% |
| FY2024 | 16% |
| FY2025 | 15% |
Details›
- Gross margin12 months to Q2 2026
- 44%
- Operating margin12 months to Q2 2026
- 15%
- Net margin12 months to Q2 2026
- 9.5%
- Free cash flow margin
- 14%
- R&D as % of revenue
- 1.4%
- Revenue, trailing twelve months
- $1.15B
- Free cash flow, trailing twelve months
- $160M
- Net income, trailing twelve months
- $110M
- Return on invested capitaloperating profit after tax ÷ debt + equity − cash
- 9.8%
Margins, capital and share counts from the statements as filed with the SEC; cash conversion is operating cash flow over operating profit after tax.
Specialty Industrial Machinery
Ranks #9 of 33 by RyuScore