With much-improved performance in the residential business and decent growth in commercial foodservice, Middleby (MIDD) has come back into investors’ good graces, with the shares up better than 25% over the past year. I liked Middleby better when the restructuring efforts were still in process and recovery in the business (and sentiment/perception) was still up for debate, and now I find the valuation more demanding for a company that I believe is too large to significantly outgrow its markets on an organic basis.
Respectable First Quarter Results
Revenue rose more than 17% as