I love this stock. It’s been in the long-term 50 Stocks Portfolio since May 3, 2013.
And someday I think the company’s strategy of buying smaller commercial and domestic kitchen equipment companies and then super-charging their sales by giving them access to a bigger piece a very fragmented market will work again.
But you can see the problem facing Middleby (MIDD) in that sentence. It sells into the commercial restaurant market. Much of that restaurant market has been closed to implement social distancing strategies intended to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Nobody in the restaurant sector is thinking of buying new equipment. And they won’t be for months (or more) after the current coronavirus pandemic is under control.
So today I’m selling Middleby out of the 50 Stocks Portfolio. I will be adding it to my Buy-On-The-Dip opportunity list for an eventual repurchase. But I sure can’t tell you now when that will be.
The position is still up 16.87% since inception back on May 3, 2013. The shares are down 47.95% for 2020 to date. Today, March 31, they closed down 0.16% to  $56.91.
