Reviewing RBC Bearings (NYSE:RBC) & Middleby (NASDAQ:MIDD)

Middleby (NASDAQ:MIDD) and RBC Bearings (NYSE:RBC) are both industrials companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, dividends, risk, earnings, analyst recommendations and valuation.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Middleby and RBC Bearings, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Middleby	1	2	6	0	2.56
RBC Bearings	0	2	7	1	2.90

Middleby currently has a consensus price target of $159.25, indicating a potential upside of 44.08%. RBC Bearings has a consensus price target of $615.44, indicating a potential upside of 24.26%. Given Middleby’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Middleby is more favorable than RBC Bearings.

Profitability

This table compares Middleby and RBC Bearings’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Middleby	-13.22%	17.44%	7.66%
RBC Bearings	16.40%	12.06%	7.78%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

98.5% of Middleby shares are owned by institutional investors. 9.7% of Middleby shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.8% of RBC Bearings shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Middleby and RBC Bearings”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	1.56	-$277.73 million	($9.26)	-11.94
RBC Bearings	$1.87 billion	8.38	$287.60 million	$10.12	48.94

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

Volatility and Risk

Middleby has a beta of 1.32, meaning that its share price is 32% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, RBC Bearings has a beta of 1.38, meaning that its share price is 38% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

RBC Bearings beats Middleby on 10 of the 15 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 RBC Bearings

RBC Bearings Incorporated manufactures and markets engineered precision bearings, components, and systems in the United States and internationally. It operates through two segments, Aerospace/Defense and Industrial. The company produces plain bearings with self-lubricating or metal-to-metal designs, including rod end bearings, spherical plain bearings, and journal bearings; roller bearings, such as tapered roller bearings, needle roller bearings, and needle bearing track rollers and cam followers, which are anti-friction products that are used in industrial applications and military aircraft platforms; and ball bearings include high precision aerospace, airframe control, thin section, and industrial ball bearings that utilize high precision ball elements to reduce friction in high-speed applications. In addition, it offers mounted bearing products include mounted ball bearings, mounted roller bearings, and mounted plain bearings; and enclosed gearing product lines, including quantis gearmotor, torque arm, tigear, magnagear and maxum, and controlled start transmission. Further, the company's power transmission components include mechanical drive components, couplings, and conveyor components; engineered hydraulics and valves for aircraft and submarine applications, and aerospace and defense aftermarket services; fasteners; precision mechanical components, which are used in various general industrial applications; and machine tool collets that are used for holding circulars or rod-like pieces. It serves automotive, tool holding, agricultural and semiconductor machinery, commercial and defense aerospace, ground defense, construction and mining, oil and natural resource extraction, heavy truck, marine, rail and train, material handling, food and beverage, packaging and canning, wind, and general industrial markets through its direct sales force, and a network of industrial and aerospace distributors. The company was founded in 1919 and is based in Oxford, Connecticut.