How much a stock's price changes over time is important for most investors, since price performance can both impact your investment portfolio and help you compare investment results across sectors and industries.
Another thing that can drive investing is the fear of missing out, or FOMO. This particularly applies to tech giants and popular consumer-facing stocks.
What if you'd invested in Badger Meter (BMI) ten years ago? It may not have been easy to hold on to BMI for all that time, but if you did, how much would your investment be worth today?
Badger Meter's Business In-Depth
With that in mind, let's take a look at Badger Meter's main business drivers.
Incorporated in 1905 and headquartered in Milwaukee, WI, Badger Meter, Inc. is a leading provider of water solutions, which include flow measurement, quality and other system parameters. The company’s products measure water, oil, chemicals, and other fluids and are known for accuracy, long-lasting durability, and for providing valuable and timely measurement data. The company’s cloud-hosted software suite, BEACON, allows consumer engagement tools that permit end-water customers to view and manage their water usage activity. The ORION branded family of radio endpoints includes ORION (ME), ORION (SE) applications, and ORION Cellular for an infrastructure-free AMI solution.
Badger Meter’s product lines fall into two categories — utility water and flow instrumentation. The utility water product line consists of either mechanical or static (ultrasonic) water meters and related radio and software technologies and services that are used by water utilities to generate water and wastewater revenues. Badger Meter estimates that about 70% of water meters installed in the United States have been converted to some form of radio solution technology.
The flow instrumentation product line mainly caters to water applications in the wider industrial markets. This product line consists of meters, valves, and other sensing devices for measuring and controlling the volume of liquids and gases, such as water, air, and steam, that pass through a pipe or pipeline. Badger Meter estimates that more than 95% of its products are used in water-related applications. Typically, flow instrumentation instruments are sold through manufacturers' agents and to original equipment manufacturers as the main flow-measuring component of a system or product.
Bottom Line
While anyone can invest, building a lucrative investment portfolio takes research, patience, and a little bit of risk. If you had invested in Badger Meter ten years ago, you're probably feeling pretty good about your investment today.
According to our calculations, a $1000 investment made in November 2015 would be worth $6,280.14, or a gain of 528.01%, as of November 7, 2025, and this return excludes dividends but includes price increases.
The S&P 500 rose 220.14% and the price of gold increased 251.65% over the same time frame in comparison.
Analysts are forecasting more upside for BMI too.
Badger Meter's third-quarter 2025 performance benefited from demand for its industry-leading cellular AMI and BlueEdge smart water management solutions. Sales grew 13.1% year over year, driven by higher utility water sales. Strong free cash flow positions the company to invest in innovation and pursue strategic, value-driven acquisitions. Management remains on track to achieve the expected cost and sales synergies from the SmartCover acquisition. Also, Badger Meter raised its historical gross margin range of 38%–40% to a new normalized range of 39%–42%. The company expects to achieve an average high single-digit top-line growth rate over the next five years, driven by technology adoption and strategic pricing initiatives. However, rising expenses and intense competition amid an uncertain macroeconomic backdrop remain concerns.
The stock is up 7.56% over the past four weeks, and no earnings estimate has gone lower in the past two months, compared to 4 higher, for fiscal 2025. The consensus estimate has moved up as well.
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Badger Meter, Inc. (BMI): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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