For most investors, how much a stock's price changes over time is important. This factor can impact your investment portfolio as well as help you compare investment results across sectors and industries.

FOMO, or the fear of missing out, also plays a role in investing, particularly with tech giants and popular consumer-facing stocks.

What if you'd invested in Badger Meter (BMI Quick QuoteBMI - 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

Anyone can invest, but building a successful investment portfolio takes a combination of a few things: research, patience, and a little bit of risk. So, if you had invested in Badger Meter a decade ago, you're probably feeling pretty good about your investment today.

A $1000 investment made in November 2016 would be worth $4,580.81, or a 358.08% gain, as of November 11, 2026, according to our calculations. Investors should note that this return excludes dividends but includes price increases.

Compare this to the S&P 500's rally of 246.99% and gold's return of 215.42% over the same time frame.

Going forward, 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.

Shares have gained 20.06% over the past four weeks and there have been 3 higher earnings estimate revisions for fiscal 2026 compared to none lower. The consensus estimate has moved up as well.