Badger Meter Gears Up to Report Q1 Earnings: What's in the Offing?

Badger Meter, Inc. BMI is slated to release its first-quarter 2025 earnings report on April 17, before market open.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenues is pegged at $221.8 million, which implies growth of 13% from the year-ago reported number. The consensus mark for earnings is pegged at $1.08 per share, indicating a year-over-year increase of 9.1%. In the past 60 days, analysts have kept their earnings estimates for the current quarter unchanged.  

The company’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the trailing four quarters, with the average surprise being 9.9%. (Find the latest EPS estimates and surprises on Zacks Earnings Calendar.) 

Factors at Play Ahead of BMI’s Q1 Earnings Release

Continued demand for BMI’s innovative smart water solutions, including higher uptake of meters (both mechanical and E-Series Ultrasonic), ORION Cellular endpoints and associated BEACON Software-as-a-Service revenues, is likely to have driven its top line. 

The dynamics of secular trends in the water industry have been driving the demand for cutting-edge digital water solutions. Regulatory pressures, aging infrastructure and climate-related extreme weather events are driving the adoption of smart water technologies, creating a favorable backdrop for BMI's products and services. Some macroeconomic factors, such as the need for replacement-driven demand, the rise of AMI adoption and increasing demand for real-time data visualization and analytics, are additional tailwinds.  As a result, BMI has been witnessing a strong opportunity pipeline and order book rates.

Uptake of BlueEdge platform is likely to have aided top-line expansion for utility segment. BlueEdge framework has been designed to simplify its comprehensive suite of scalable water solutions. This platform is an umbrella term that combines water technology, software and services to enhance customer experience with efficient water management.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for utility water sales is expected to be $196 million compared with $170 million reported in the prior year quarter.  

Badger Meter, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Badger Meter, Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Badger Meter, Inc. Quote

Higher volumes, structural sales mix and solid price/cost management are expected to have buoyed gross margin performance in the to-be-reported quarter.

However, due to tougher year-over-year comparison as well as strong but normalizing demand trends, management noted on its last earnings call that the company now expects to deliver high single-digit sales growth rates going ahead. Declining sales across certain de-emphasized end markets and customer applications are likely to have weighed on sales from flow instrumentation segment. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for flow instrumentation sales is expected to be $27 million compared with $26.2 million reported in the prior year quarter.  

Higher expenses owing to incremental growth investments are an added concern along with an uncertain global macroeconomic backdrop and intensified competition.

What Does Our Model Say About BMI?

Our proven model does not predict an earnings beat for BMI this time around. The combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) increases the odds of an earnings beat. This is not the case here, as you can see below.

BMI has an Earnings ESP of -1.71% and a Zacks Rank #2 at present. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

Stocks to Consider

Here are three stocks you may want to consider, as our model shows that these have the right elements to post an earnings beat in this reporting cycle.

Abbott Laboratories ABT currently has an Earnings ESP of +0.57% and a Zacks Rank #2. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. 

ABT is scheduled to report quarterly earnings on April 16. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for ABT’s to-be-reported quarter’s earnings and revenues is pegged at $5.15 per share and $44.42 billion, respectively. Shares of ABT have gained 17.1% in the past year.

ASML Holding N.V. ASML presently has an Earnings ESP of +4.58% and a Zacks Rank #2. ASML is scheduled to report quarterly numbers on April 16. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for ASML’s to-be-reported quarter’s earnings and revenues is pegged at $25.62 per share and $34.87 billion, respectively. Shares of ASML have declined 31.3% in the past year.

Steel Dynamics, Inc. STLD has an Earnings ESP of +2.09% and a Zacks Rank #2 at present. STLD is scheduled to report quarterly figures on April 22. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for STLD’s to-be-reported quarter’s earnings and revenues is pegged at $9.66 per share and $17.88 billion, respectively. Shares of STLD have plunged 15% in the past year.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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