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Here's How Much You'd Have If You Invested $1000 in Badger Meter a Decade Ago

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How much a stock's price changes over time is a significant driver for most investors. Not only can price performance impact your portfolio, but it can help you compare investment results across sectors and industries as well.

The fear of missing out, or FOMO, also plays a factor in investing, especially with particular tech giants, as well as popular consumer-facing stocks.

What if you'd invested in Badger Meter (BMI - Free Report) 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 October 2016 would be worth $4,780.03, or a gain of 378.00%, as of October 26, 2026, and this return excludes dividends but includes price increases.

Compare this to the S&P 500's rally of 256.05% and gold's return of 203.51% over the same time frame.

Looking ahead, analysts are expecting more upside for BMI.

Badger Meter's long-term prospects benefit from cellular AMI adoption, recurring software and expanding water-monitoring capabilities. Ramping utility projects and the OneNetwork launch extend its reach across metering and beyond-the-meter applications. Ultrasonic meter and software mix support margins despite uneven sales. However, organic revenue remains below last year, and management now expects a low-single-digit decline for 2026. Project deployments can vary with customer schedules, while rising electronic component costs and availability constraints remain risks. UDlive integration costs and lower cash generation add to near-term uncertainty. Management expects sequential and annual base sales growth in the final quarter and momentum into 2027.

The stock has jumped 16.81% over the past four weeks. Additionally, no earnings estimate has gone lower in the past two months, compared to 2 higher, for fiscal 2026; the consensus estimate has moved up as well.

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