Middleby (NASDAQ:MIDD) and DXP Enterprises (NASDAQ:DXPE) Financial Comparison

Middleby (NASDAQ:MIDD) and DXP Enterprises (NASDAQ:DXPE) are both mid-cap industrials companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, valuation, dividends, earnings and profitability.

Volatility and Risk

Middleby has a beta of 1.34, meaning that its stock price is 34% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, DXP Enterprises has a beta of 1.07, meaning that its stock price is 7% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Middleby and DXP Enterprises’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Middleby	-11.46%	15.94%	7.34%
DXP Enterprises	4.27%	18.16%	5.70%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Middleby and DXP Enterprises, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Middleby	1	2	6	0	2.56
DXP Enterprises	0	2	2	0	2.50

Middleby presently has a consensus target price of $189.71, indicating a potential upside of 32.13%. DXP Enterprises has a consensus target price of $154.00, indicating a potential upside of 4.88%. Given Middleby’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Middleby is more favorable than DXP Enterprises.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Middleby and DXP Enterprises”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Middleby	$3.20 billion	2.03	-$277.73 million	($8.48)	-16.93
DXP Enterprises	$2.02 billion	1.13	$88.68 million	$5.35	27.45

DXP Enterprises has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Middleby. Middleby is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than DXP Enterprises, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

98.6% of Middleby shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 74.8% of DXP Enterprises shares are held by institutional investors. 9.7% of Middleby shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 22.4% of DXP Enterprises shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Middleby beats DXP Enterprises on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About DXP Enterprises

DXP Enterprises, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in distributing maintenance, repair, and operating (MRO) products, equipment, and services in the United States and Canada. It operates through three segments: Service Centers (SC), Supply Chain Services (SCS), and Innovative Pumping Solutions (IPS). The SC segment offers MRO products, equipment, and integrated services, including technical expertise and logistics services. It offers a range of MRO products in the rotating equipment, bearing, power transmission, hose, fluid power, metal working, fastener, industrial supply, safety products, and safety services categories. This segment serves customers in the oil and gas, food and beverage, petrochemical, transportation, other general industrial, mining, construction, chemical, municipal, agriculture, and pulp and paper industries. The SCS segment manages procurement and inventory vinventory optimization and management, storeroom management, transaction consolidation and control, vendor oversight and procurement cost optimization, productivity improvement, and customized reporting services. Its programs include SmartAgreement, a procurement solution for various MRO categories; SmartBuy, an on-site or centralized MRO procurement solution; SmartSource, an on-site procurement and storeroom management solution; SmartStore, an e-Catalog solution; SmartVend, an industrial dispensing solution; and SmartServ, an integrated service pump solution. The IPS segment fabricates and assembles custom-made pump packages; remanufactures pumps; and manufactures branded private label pumps. DXP Enterprises, Inc. was founded in 1908 and is based in Houston, Texas.