Back to top

Image: Shutterstock

What Justifies Badger Meter's (BMI) Bullish Stance Right Now?

Read MoreHide Full Article

Badger Meter, Inc. (BMI - Free Report) is one of the rising stars in the tech space, currently flaunting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). The company has been witnessing northbound earnings estimate revisions of late. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its first-quarter 2022 earnings has witnessed an upward revision of 18.6% over the past 90 days. The consensus mark moved 9.5% north for 2022. The company has an impressive earnings surprise history as well, having topped estimates in three of the trailing four quarters and matching in the other, the average surprise being 14%.

Moreover, shares of BMI have surged 90.6% over the past two years, outperforming the industry’s rise of 88.5%.

Zacks Investment Research
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

A successful investor understands the importance of adding well-performing stocks to the portfolio at the right time. Thus, with such healthy fundamentals, this stock appears to be a solid investment pick at the moment.

Key Performance Drivers

Headquartered in Milwaukee, WI, Badger Meter provides flow measurement, control and communications solutions, serving water and gas utilities, municipalities and industrial customers worldwide. The company’s products measure water, oil, chemicals, and other fluids, and are known for accuracy, long-lasting durability, and providing valuable and timely measurement data. The company offers BEACON advanced metering analytics, a secure cloud-hosted software suite that allows consumer engagement tools that permit end water customers to view and manage their water usage activity. It also provides ORION Migratable for automatic meter reading and ORION Cellular for infrastructure-free fixed network meter reading solution.

With its industry-leading ORION Cellular endpoints along with communication and software technologies, Badger Meter is focused on creating robust digital solutions to operationalize real-time data into actionable insights. Its BEACON software-as-a-service offering facilitates the collection and analysis of data within the distribution network to improve operational awareness. It is positioned to gain from robust order rates for innovative water solutions, including E-Series Ultrasonic meters and ORION Cellular LTE-M (Long-Term Evolution for Machines) radios.

Badger Meter’s strong cash generation and balance sheet allow it to execute its capital allocation strategy. In fact, owing to its healthy liquidity position, the company is well-poised to enable strategic, tuck-in mergers and acquisitions to provide differentiated offerings across global markets. The combination of ATi’s electrochemical sensors and s::can’s optical water quality monitoring instruments provides Badger Meter with a comprehensive water quality monitoring solution. The company continues to expand its smart water offerings by integrating advanced technologies in instrumentation. This is likely to enhance the scope of valuable data for use by utilities and industrial customers.

The company recently reported solid fourth-quarter 2021 results, with the bottom and the top line surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate. Robust water quality acquisition-related sales, backlog conversion and record order momentum across its diverse portfolio of innovative water solutions on the back of a healthy demand environment drove its performance. Also, recovering market trends despite widespread supply-chain shortages and delays acted as a tailwind.

Despite the supply-chain disruptions and a challenging price environment, Badger Meter’s near-term outlook remains bullish. It expects to witness a solid backlog on the back of increasing orders in the forthcoming quarters. This will eventually help the company ensure the smooth functioning of business operations with strong profitability. Badger Meter’s continued focus on investing in digital solutions will help reduce overall costs and enhance efficiency. Moreover, with discretionary spend controls, Badger Meter continues to deliver critical products and services to customers.

Other Key Picks

Other top-ranked from the broader technology space include Progress Software (PRGS - Free Report) , NETGEAR (NTGR - Free Report) and Iridium Communications (IRDM - Free Report) , all of which carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Progress Software has a projected earnings growth rate of 3.62% for fiscal 2022. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Progress Software’s fiscal 2022 earnings has been revised upward by 6 cents in the past 60 days. The long-term earnings growth rate of PRGS is pegged at 2%.

Progress Software’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in the preceding four quarters, the average surprise being 26.8%. Shares of PRGS have lost 4.8% in the past year.

NETGEAR has a projected earnings growth rate of 31.46% for 2023. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for NETGEAR’s 2023 earnings has been revised downward by 7 cents in the past 90 days.

NETGEAR’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the last four quarters and missed estimates once, the average surprise being 35.5%. Shares of NTGR have dropped 46.6% in the past year.

Iridium has a projected earnings growth rate of 271.43% for 2022. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Iridium’s 2022 earnings has been revised upward by a penny in the past 90 days.

Iridium’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in two of the last four quarters and met estimates twice, the average surprise being 39.4%. Shares of IRDM have dropped 11.3% in the past year.

Published in