Highest ISM in 17 Years

March is starting on a very strong note. As I write this, the S&P 500 has been up as much as 1.8% today, and it’s a broad-based rally as well. It’s not the kind where only a handful of stocks are doing the heavy lifting.

We had two economic reports this morning. Construction spending for January increased by 1.7% over December. The increase since last January was 5.8%. That’s very encouraging.

Also, the ISM Manufacturing report came in at 60.8 for February. That’s a very good number. Expectations were for 58.9. There hasn’t been a higher ISM since May 2004. (February 2018 tied it.)

Also this morning, Middleby (MIDD) reported fiscal Q4 earnings of $1.62 per share. Expectations were for $1.41 per share. Considering the environment, this was a solid quarter.

Adjusting for exchange rates, sales fell 9.3% in Q4. That’s not much of a surprise. Commercial food service was down 18.9%. The good news is that backlog now stands at a record $522.7 million. MIDD’s EBITDA margin was 20.3%. Operating cash flow increased to $208.6 million compared with $147.7 million for last year’s Q4.

The stock is up over 6% this morning.

Posted by on March 1st, 2021 at 10:33 am


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