For some time now I’ve stayed away from Middleby (MIDD) because I thought the market gave too much of a growth premium to a stock where the underlying company really wasn’t a true growth story anymore. Relative performance has indeed been poor over the last three years or so, as the company has struggled to put together compelling growth and margin leverage despite restructuring initiatives and ongoing reinvestment in product development.
I no longer think that premium valuation is a problem here. In fact, the shares look undervalued if the company can manage