Boston, MA 02/27/2014 (wallstreetpr) – The Middleby Corporation (NASDAQ:MIDD) released results for the fourth quarter and fiscal 2013 that were exciting by most measures. Exceeding expectations always comes with good news around a stock and MIDD has had plenty of it already.
The ticker was part among the authors of excitement on Nasdaq Thursday, whereby the stock managed to push its 52-week top boundary higher at $303.29. The stock eventually settled with almost 14 percent gain to $299.48 by bell time. And all that was happening because the company managed to attain beating results for its fourth quarter and full-year 2013.
Fourth quarter performance figures
The Middleby Corporation (NASDAQ:MIDD) announced that its earnings per share was $2.62, exceeding the earnings per share of $2.03 that was attained in the corresponding quarter a year ago by more than 29 percent. The earnings in the latest quarter also managed to fly past the estimate target planted by analysts at Zacks. The Zacks analysts anticipated $2.23 earnings per share, thus falling by approximately 17 percent from the reality. The reason for the latest earnings beat was due to the improvement in margins and revenue in the fourth quarter.
Revenue for the just announced quarter was up by more than 29 percent compared with what was generated in the same quarter of 2012. Thus revenue was $377.4 million, exceeding the $376 million estimated by analysts at Zacks. The strong revenue was due to the inorganic growth experienced by the company, the management said.
Full-year performance digits
The Middleby Corporation (NASDAQ:MIDD) posted earnings per share of $8.21 in full-year 2013, thus exceeding the 2012 earnings figure by 26.5 percent and overcoming the target of Zacks by more than 8 percent. Revenue in the year hit $1.4 billion, exceeding the $1 billion that was attained in 2012. The latest full-year revenue was almost in line with what Zacks estimated.
Financial strength
The Middleby Corporation (NASDAQ:MIDD) exited the fourth quarter with cash and equivalents valued at approximatlet $36.9 million. That was more than the $29.4 million that was there in the third quarter of 2013. The company had long-term debt of $570 million at the end of the fourth quarter, and $536.6 million at the end of third quarter of 2013.
