Middleby Buys Processing Equipment Solutions - Analyst Blog

The Middleby Corporation MIDD recently acquired Gainesville, GA-based Processing Equipment Solutions, Inc. which manufactures equipment for the food processing industry.  However, the contract details have been kept under wraps.

With annual revenues of $15 million, Processing Equipment Solutions deals in meat press, fillet splitter, dumpers, nugget rollers, high pressure pumps and custom fabrication to name a few. Middleby plans to leverage Processing Equipment Solutions' MegaJet and IntelliJet water cutting systems to provide accurate and flexible solutions to customers.

The company has a strong track record of successful acquisitions, which have been contributing significantly to the total revenue. In the fourth quarter of 2013, the company acquired Celfrost, Automatic Bar Controls and Wunder-Bar, which accounted for 20.8% of the sales growth. These acquisitions are expected to drive revenue growth in the upcoming quarters.

Moreover, in Jan 2014, Middleby acquired the assets of Everett, MA-based Market Forge Industries Inc. For well over a century, Market Forge has been providing steam cooking equipment to the foodservice industry. With annual revenues of roughly $15 million, Market Forge deals in products including steamers, kettles, boilers, skillets, ovens and ranges. This acquisition is expected to boost Middleby's presence in the steam cooking industry. The company intends to expand the sales for Market Forge through its strong distribution network.

Middleby Corporation provides cooking, warming, food preparation and packaging equipment to commercial, industrial processing and residential markets.

With a market capitalization of $5.1 billion, Middleby has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Other stocks worth a watch in the industry include Kadant Inc. KAI, Altra Industrial Motion Corp. AIMC and Broadwind Energy, Inc. BWEN. While Kadant sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Altra Industrial and Broadwind Energy carry the same Zacks Rank as Middleby.