Head to Head Survey: Middleby (MIDD) versus Its Rivals

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

Volatility and Risk

Middleby has a beta of 1.29, meaning that its share price is 29% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Middleby’s peers have a beta of 5.10, meaning that their average share price is 410% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Middleby	1.24%	19.42%	8.03%
Middleby Competitors	-1,044.19%	-15.05%	0.53%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Middleby and its peers gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Middleby	$3.20 billion	-$277.73 million	-14.74
Middleby Competitors	$4.66 billion	$364.05 million	4.99

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings for Middleby and its peers, 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	4206	14711	18217	808	2.41

Middleby currently has a consensus target price of $159.25, indicating a potential upside of 16.67%. As a group, “Machinery” companies have a potential upside of 35.40%. Given Middleby’s peers higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Middleby has less favorable growth aspects than its peers.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

98.5% of Middleby shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 51.8% 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 large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

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

About Middleby

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.