Deep fryers and grills have long been a source of cash for teenage fast-food workers, but once-troubled Middleby Corp. is making restaurant kitchen items profitable for investors, too, generating astonishing increases in its stock price.

The Elgin-based manufacturer of kitchen equipment has brands such as Toastmaster, Middleby Marshall stoves and Pitco, maker of the Frialator. Despite tough times for most manufacturers, Middleby is piling up solid growth. Sales for the last six months of 2003 were $117 million, up 4.4 percent.

The stock nearly tripled during those six months, from $13.88 per share on June 30 to finish the year at $40.47. The stock currently has a price-to-earnings ratio of around 22 and is trading at about $45. Its 52-week low is $10.44; its 52-week high $48.89.

Now analysts are wondering whether it's too late for new investors to benefit from Middleby's rapid ascent from its doldrums last summer.

Jamie Clement, who covers Middleby for Sidoti & Co. LLC in New York, said the current stabilization is good for long-term investors. He expressed confidence new products this year, including a pizza oven that will cook 25 percent faster, portend a bright future. Noting that it may take a year for them to affect the stock price, he rates Middleby a "buy."

"Long term, the fundamentals of this business are very strong," he said.

A consensus of four analysts is for earnings per share of 40 cents in the first quarter of 2004 and 62 cents in the second quarter. In the last two years, the lowest quarterly earnings per share was 28 cents. Most quarters have yielded earnings between 49 and 60 cents.

Although the company is known for its strength in the pizza and "fast-casual" markets, CEO Selim Bassoul said there is a piece of Middleby equipment in one out of three restaurant kitchens in the world.

It wasn't always this way. In 1998 the century-old company was struggling to stay afloat. Rumors of bankruptcy were circulating at company headquarters, and the stock was trading at less than $4 per share.

According to Bassoul, Middleby's problem was offering everything including, literally, the kitchen sink.

The company "tried to be all things to all people," and sold products ranging from stoves to mixers to display cases to refrigerators.

When Bassoul arrived as CEO in 1998, he made the risky decision to cut $25 million of the company's $100 million business in order to focus on "hot side" appliances - items like stoves, broilers and fryers.

In 2001 Middleby acquired G.S. Blodgett, a commercial-cooking division of Maytag Corp., a move that more than doubled revenues. Since then, company officials say, Middleby's focus on developing new technology and offering only hot-side equipment are the reasons behind the successful turnaround.

"It's where the margins are," Bassoul said. "It's where the technology is."

Middleby investors have benefited from the company's role in supplying kitchen equipment to the growing fast-casual sector, a term used for quick, inexpensive restaurants like Panera Bread, Culver's or Corner Bakery Cafe that are a bit nicer than fast-food joints.

The company is releasing eight new products in 2004 -five during the first six months alone. Seven new offerings in 2003 accounted for 5 percent of sales in the fourth quarter and should grow further this year. New products focus on speed, and energy and labor savings.

Bassoul said the low-carb trend is "here to stay and driving business" as restaurants require more broilers and grills for meat and fish offerings. He also credited the popularity of ethnic cuisine, which uses many hot-side appliances, and the in-store baking trend, for boosting Middleby's business.