Kitchen product manufacturer Middleby (NYSE: MIDD) will be announcing earnings results this Thursday before market open. Here’s what investors should know.

Middleby beat analysts’ revenue expectations last quarter, reporting revenues of $982.1 million, up 4.2% year on year. It was a mixed quarter for the company, with a solid beat of analysts’ revenue estimates but a significant miss of analysts’ organic revenue estimates.

Is Middleby a buy or sell going into earnings? Read our full analysis here, it’s free for active Edge members.

This quarter, the market is expecting Middleby’s revenue to decline 3.6% year on year, a deceleration from its flat revenue in the same quarter last year.

Analysts covering the company have generally reconfirmed their estimates over the last 30 days, suggesting they anticipate the business to stay the course heading into earnings. Middleby has missed Wall Street’s revenue estimates multiple times over the last two years.

Looking at Middleby’s peers in the professional tools and equipment segment, some have already reported their Q4 results, giving us a hint as to what we can expect. Kennametal delivered year-on-year revenue growth of 9.8%, beating analysts’ expectations by 1%, and Fortive reported revenues up 4.6%, topping estimates by 2.7%. Kennametal traded up 7% following the results while Fortive was also up 10.8%.

Read our full analysis of Kennametal’s results here and Fortive’s results here.

There has been positive sentiment among investors in the professional tools and equipment segment, with share prices up 5.7% on average over the last month. Middleby is up 7.7% during the same time and is heading into earnings with an average analyst price target of $168.38 (compared to the current share price of $158.72).

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