Middleby price target lowered to $157 from $165 at Baird

Baird analyst Mircea Dobre lowered the firm’s price target on Middleby (MIDD) to $157 from $165 and keeps an Outperform rating on the shares following the Q3 report. The company is still struggling to build any momentum amid restaurant customer capex pushouts, the analyst tells investors in a research note. While this is unlikely to persist for an extended period, visibility to a clear point of inflection remains low, the analyst tells investors in a research note. Baird thinks Middleby’s focus on cost takeout to accommodate lower volumes and reallocating capital towards share repurchases “are important tools in managing through this downturn.”