The Middleby Corporation MIDD reported third-quarter 2024 adjusted earnings of $2.33 per share, which missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.47. The bottom line decreased 1.7% year over year due to lower sales.

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Net sales of $942.8 million missed the consensus estimate of $997 million. The top line declined 3.9% year over year. Organic sales decreased 4.1%. Acquired assets boosted sales by 0.2%, while movements in foreign currencies had a positive impact of 0.1%.

Segmental Results

Sales from the Commercial Foodservice Equipment Group segment (representing 63.7% of net sales) were $600.1 million, down 5.3% year over year. Organic sales decreased 5.3%. Buyouts did not have any material impact on sales, while foreign-currency translation had an adverse impact of 0.1%.

Sales from the Residential Kitchen Equipment Group segment (18.3%) totaled $173.2 million, down 3.8% year over year. Our estimate was $189.2 million. Organic sales plunged 4.5%. Buyouts boosted sales by 0.1%, while foreign-currency translation had a positive impact of 0.6%.

Sales from the Food Processing Equipment Group segment (18%) summed $169.5 million, up 1.7% year over year. We expected the metric to be $180 million. Organic sales increased 0.7% year over year. Acquisitions boosted sales by 0.8%, while foreign currency movements had a favorable impact of 0.2%.

MIDD’s Margin Profile

Middleby’s cost of sales decreased 3% year over year to $587.4 million. Gross profit fell 5.3% to $355.4 million. The gross margin decreased to 37.7% from 38.3% in the year-ago quarter.

Selling, general and administrative expenses decreased 8.6% year over year to $179.5 million. Operating income declined 0.6% year over year to $173.4 million. Operating margin increased 60 basis points (bps) to 18.4%.

Adjusted EBITDA declined 5.4% year over year to $213 million. Adjusted EBITDA margin fell 40 bps to 22.6%.

Balance Sheet and Cash Flow

Exiting the third quarter, Middleby had cash and cash equivalents of $606 million compared with $247.5 million at the end of December 2023. Long-term debt was $2.36 billion at the end of the third quarter compared with $2.38 billion at 2023-end.

In the first nine months of 2024, Middleby generated net cash of $447.1 million from operating activities compared with $373.1 million in the year-ago period. Capital expenditure totaled $36.2 million compared with $69.6 million in the year-ago-period. Free cash flow was $410.9 million in the first nine months of the year compared with $303.5 million in the year-ago period.

Middleby’s Q4 Outlook

For the fourth quarter, the company expects sales from the Commercial Foodservice segment to be flat on a sequential basis. Sales from the Residential Kitchen segment are anticipated to be near the year-ago quarter level and increase sequentially, while Food Processing sales are expected to increase on both year-over-year and sequential basis.

Zacks Rank & Key Picks

MIDD currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

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Graham Corporation GHM currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

GHM delivered a trailing four-quarter average earnings surprise of 133.2%. In the past 60 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for Graham’s fiscal 2025 earnings has remained stable.

Ingersoll-Rand plc IR presently carries a Zacks Rank of 2. IR delivered a trailing four-quarter average earnings surprise of 11%.

In the past 60 days, the consensus estimate for Ingersoll-Rand’s 2024 earnings has inched up 0.6%.

Parker-Hannifin Corporation PH currently carries a Zacks Rank of 2. PH delivered a trailing four-quarter average earnings surprise of 11.2%.

In the past 60 days, the consensus estimate for Parker-Hannifin’s fiscal 2025 (ending June 2025) earnings has increased 0.3%.

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