Forensic Analysis · Machinery & Fabricated Metal Products · as of Nov 9, 2026

Middleby Corp (MIDD)

A forensic read on Middleby Corp built from its complete SEC filings — financial-health screens, earnings quality, red flags and a price-aware rating. Reproducible math, not opinion.

B · Sound & dependable

Forensic grade

Safe

Financial health

5.3

Distress distance

Clean

Earnings quality

Forensic signals

-8.7%

ROE

1.6%

Revenue growth

This free snapshot doesn't read filing or proxy text, so the auditor-quality and governance checks that can lower a grade were not evaluated (auditor quality, say on pay, board independence, going concern). Those checks only ever lower a grade, so the full analysis can land below the grade above but never above it — treat it as the most favourable reading, not the settled one.

Middleby Corp earns a B (Sound & dependable) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 5.3, placing it in the Safe zone. 2 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by shareholder returns.

What the filings flag

129% of FCF

FY2025

Shareholder returns. Returned $724M to shareholders (buybacks + dividends) in FY2025 — 129% of free cash flow. That is $164M (29%) more than free cash flow covered, and more than operating cash flow as well. It came out of the balance sheet's own liquid holdings, not new debt: cash fell $417M over FY2025, while total debt fell $222M. A payout past free cash flow draws the balance sheet down in every year it continues, which isn't sustainable indefinitely. Counting the $13M of stock-based comp paid out in shares on top of that, the combined claim on free cash flow is 132%.

8.0%

FY2025

Return on invested capital. Return on invested capital is 8.0% in the latest fiscal year and steady across FY2023–FY2025, inside a 0.6-point range. After-tax operating profit was $503M in FY2023 and $438M in FY2025, with operating income at 20.1% of revenue in FY2023, 20.4% in FY2024 and 18.0% in FY2025. The capital base behind it went from $5.9B in FY2023 to $5.5B in FY2025 (-7%), while the revenue it carried went from $3.2B to $3.2B.

Key fundamentals

Latest Revenue$3.20B

Revenue Growth YoY+1.6%

Revenue CAGR (2yr)-0.6%

Net Margin-8.7%

Free Cash Flow$559.5M

Return on Equity-8.7%

Debt / Equity0.78x

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Data from SEC EDGAR public filings · metrics as of Nov 9, 2026. Forensic signals flag probability, not certainty.

See a wrong number? Report an error with the filing it should match.