We initiate coverage on three German machinery providers primarily serving the food and beverage sector. Our top pick Krones (+) screens best on bottom-up customer capex, margin expansion and valuation. For Rational (-) we see downside risk to consensus and valuation, should slowing consumer spend weigh on restaurant capex. For GEA (=) the risk-reward looks balanced. Market leaders in their field of activity - Krones is our preferred play While all three are confirmed leaders in their respective segments, both GEA and Krones recorded a mixed performance over 2017-19, which led to rigorous cost-cutting. Now, with the macro weakening, we analyse who screens best on demand trends vs. pricing power, cost structure, and under an ESG angle, and how this is reflected in consensus and valuation. Krones - Resilience or growth? A combination of both! Initiate with Outperform, TP EUR104 The leader in beverage equipment should benefit from pent-up demand, tailwinds from rising RPET share at customers and structural growth in intralogistics. Operating leverage, cost measures and stickiness of price hikes drive our 12% EBITDA CAGR 2021-25e. It now trades at a 10-15% discount to its average historical EV/EBIT despite upside risk to its prior margins and FCF profile. Rational - Too good to be true? Initiate with Underperform, TP EUR550 Rational''s oven/combi-steamer solutions for commercial kitchens are industry leading. However, with ~50% of sales from restaurants, a slowing economy could leave ''23e consensus of double-digit growth and ~200bp margin lift looking ambitious. Our ~22% EBIT margin ''24e is ~500bp shy of the group''s ''12-19 average, putting the 31x EV/EBIT 23e (~10% above hist. av. multiple) at risk. GEA - Self-help well-understood, margin expansion priced-in. Initiate with Neutral, TP EUR40 GEA has re-established itself as a quality name in the FandB machinery sector after 2Y of beat-and-raises, mainly via unlocking the self-help potential on...