Verdict: Side-by-side breakdown using the Bull Rankings model. BLBD scored 73.2, MIDD scored 40.4 — BLBD leads.
Compare another set
BLBD
Blue Bird Corporation
Farm & Heavy Construction Machinery · Quality-Growth
73.2
$56.29 · $1.9B
fundamentals as of
Score gap
32.8
BLBD leads
MIDD
The Middleby Corporation
Specialty Industrial Machinery · Quality-Growth
40.4
$106.33 · $4.8B
fundamentals as of
At a glance · who leads each dimension, on the model's own rules
Fastest growthBLBD+13.5%
Strongest balance sheetBLBD0.18
Highest qualityBLBD86 / 100
Largest discount to fair valueBLBD-12%
Side by side · every name on one set of axes
The model, pillar by pillar (0–100 each)
BLBD
stronger →← stronger
MIDD
86
Qualityreturns · margins · balance sheet
65
50
Growthrevenue & earnings expansion
23
92
Valuevaluation vs sector peers
44
BLBD is stronger on 3 of 3 pillars.
Fundamentals, head-to-head
BLBD
MIDD
$153mC
FCF
$482mC
+13.5%B+
Rev
+1.6%C
0.18A-
D/E
0.91C+
6.6xA
P/E
—
—
PEG
1.51C+
—
P/S
1.4xB+
Winner per row is the stronger grade; where grades tie, the better figure breaks it. A true tie or a missing value shows no highlight.
Valuation · DCF cross-check
BLBD
MIDD
12% below
Price vs fair valuelower is cheaper
11% below
~6%/yr
Growth the price impliesyr-1 FCF growth, fading to 4% · lower = less priced in
~0%/yr
+1%
1-yr DCF upside
+15%
+14%
5-yr DCF upside
+12%
+34%
10-yr DCF upside
+8%
The DCF is a cross-check on intrinsic value, separate from the quality-growth score above.
Model signals
BLBD
Why this score
Durable high returns
Cyclical growth
MIDD
Why this score
Buying back stock
The companies
BLBDBlue Bird Corporation
Farm & Heavy Construction Machinery · $56.29 · beta 1.36
Why now
Farm & Heavy Construction Machinery · market cap $1.9b. Down 32% from 52-week high of $83.39 — deep drawdown territory. Revenue growing +13%, comfortably above the S&P median. 8 sell-side analysts rate this a Strong Buy with a mean 1-yr target of $89.13 (implying +58% upside).
Moat
Net margin 17% beats the market median by a meaningful margin — the company is keeping more of every revenue dollar than the average S&P constituent. ROE 43% — top-decile capital efficiency. Either pricing leverage, low capital intensity, or aggressive buybacks; the durability story depends on which.
Risk
Down 32% from the 52-week high — the market is pricing in something the screen can't see; verify the bear case before sizing up.
Specialty Industrial Machinery · market cap $4.8b. Down 28% from 52-week high of $148.55 — deep drawdown territory. 9 sell-side analysts rate this a Buy with a mean 1-yr target of $155.67 (implying +46% upside).
Moat
ROE 11% meets the long-run market sustainable threshold — solid but not differentiated; the durability comes from elsewhere. FCF converts 151% of net income — earnings translate cleanly into cash.
Risk
Currently unprofitable (margin -13.9%) — path to GAAP profitability is the core thesis risk.
Verdict — model-derived comparison
Generating verdict… typically 5–10 seconds
Not investment advice. The Bull Rankings publishes a quantitative ranking model and accompanying analysis for general informational purposes only. Nothing on this page is a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security; nothing is personalized to your circumstances, risk tolerance, or tax situation. Investing carries the risk of loss — invest at your own risk and consider consulting a licensed financial professional before acting on anything you read here. See terms and methodology for full disclosures.
Where BLBD and MIDD diverge
On the headline score the gap is 32.8 points in favor of BLBD. The widest single difference is Value, where BLBD leads by 47.6 points.
ValueBLBD 91.6 · MIDD 44.0BLBD +47.6
GrowthBLBD 50.0 · MIDD 23.1BLBD +26.9
QualityBLBD 85.8 · MIDD 64.8BLBD +21.0
Pillars run 0–100. Value is judged against each company's own sector, so a Value score is a statement about a company relative to its own industry rather than to the other name here. A wide Value gap usually means the market already prices the difference in quality or growth — which is the trade-off this comparison comes down to.
Common questions
Is BLBD or MIDD the better stock?
BLBD scores higher: BLBD 73.2, MIDD 40.4 out of 100 on the Bull Rankings quality-growth score, which blends business quality, growth and valuation into one number. A higher score means a stronger business at a more reasonable price — it is not a price target or a recommendation.
Where do BLBD and MIDD differ most?
The widest gap is value, where BLBD leads by 48 points on the 0–100 pillar scale. BLBD leads all three pillars, so the gap is broad rather than a single-measure difference.
How are BLBD and MIDD scored?
Each carries the same 0–100 quality-growth score used everywhere on the site, built from three pillars — quality (profitability and returns on capital), growth (revenue and earnings), and value (what you pay for them) — combined as a geometric mean, so a weak pillar cannot be papered over by a strong one.
How current is this comparison?
The whole universe is re-scored every trading day after the US market close, so the scores and fundamentals here reflect the latest published edition.