Financial Contrast: Middleby (MIDD) versus Its Rivals

Middleby (NASDAQ:MIDD) is one of 436 publicly-traded companies in the “Machinery” industry, but how does it compare to its competitors? We will compare Middleby to related businesses based on the strength of its dividends, earnings, risk, analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership and profitability.

Risk & Volatility

Middleby has a beta of 1.32, meaning that its share price is 32% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Middleby’s competitors have a beta of 4.69, meaning that their average share price is 369% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

98.5% of Middleby shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 51.7% of shares of all “Machinery” companies are held by institutional investors. 9.7% of Middleby shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 14.2% of shares of all “Machinery” companies are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Middleby and its competitors, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Middleby	1	2	6	0	2.56
Middleby Competitors	4190	14675	18173	803	2.41

Middleby presently has a consensus target price of $158.25, suggesting a potential upside of 33.04%. As a group, “Machinery” companies have a potential upside of 32.05%. Given Middleby’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Middleby is more favorable than its competitors.

Profitability

This table compares Middleby and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Middleby	-13.22%	17.44%	7.66%
Middleby Competitors	-1,044.47%	-15.12%	0.54%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Middleby and its competitors revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Middleby	$3.20 billion	-$277.73 million	-12.85
Middleby Competitors	$4.63 billion	$364.57 million	3.54

Middleby’s competitors have higher revenue and earnings than Middleby. Middleby is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Summary

Middleby beats its competitors on 7 of the 13 factors compared.

Middleby Company Profile

The Middleby Corporation designs, markets, manufactures, distributes, and services foodservice, food processing, and residential kitchen equipment worldwide. Its Commercial Foodservice Equipment Group segment offers conveyor, combi, convection, baking, proofing, deck, speed cooking, and hydrovection ovens; ranges, fryers, and rethermalizers; steam cooking, food warming, catering, induction cooking, and countertop cooking equipment; heated cabinets, charbroilers, ventless cooking systems, kitchen ventilation, toasters, griddles, charcoal grills, professional mixers, stainless steel fabrication, custom millwork, professional refrigerators, blast chillers, cold rooms, ice machines, and freezers; soft serve ice cream, coffee and beverage dispensing, home and professional craft brewing equipment; and fry dispensers, bottle filling and canning equipment, IoT solutions, and controls development and manufacturing. The company's Food Processing Equipment Group segment provides batch, baking, proofing, conveyor belt, and continuous processing ovens; frying and automated thermal processing systems; tumblers, massagers, grinders, slicers, reduction and emulsion systems, mixers, and blenders; battering, breading, and seeding equipment; water cutting systems, food presses, food suspension equipment, filling and depositing solutions, and forming equipment; and automated washing systems, auto-guided vehicles, food safety, food handling, freezing, and defrosting and packaging equipment. Its Residential Kitchen Equipment Group segment offers kitchen equipment comprising cookers, stoves, cooktops, microwaves, ovens, refrigerators, dishwashers, undercounter refrigeration, wine cellars, ice machines, beer dispensers, mixers, rotisseries, and ventilation and outdoor cooking equipment. The company was formerly known as Middleby Marshall Oven Company and changed its name to The Middleby Corporation in 1985. The company was founded in 1888 and is based in Elgin, Illinois.