Comparing Badger Meter (BMI) and The Competition

Badger Meter (NYSE:BMI) is one of 377 public companies in the “Electronic Equipment, Instruments & Components” industry, but how does it compare to its rivals? We will compare Badger Meter to similar businesses based on the strength of its institutional ownership, earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation, profitability, risk and dividends.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

89.0% of Badger Meter shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 43.5% of shares of all “Electronic Equipment, Instruments & Components” companies are held by institutional investors. 1.0% of Badger Meter shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 16.1% of shares of all “Electronic Equipment, Instruments & Components” companies are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility and Risk

Badger Meter has a beta of 0.63, meaning that its share price is 37% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Badger Meter’s rivals have a beta of -0.30, meaning that their average share price is 130% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Badger Meter pays an annual dividend of $1.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. Badger Meter pays out 40.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Electronic Equipment, Instruments & Components” companies pay a dividend yield of 1.9% and pay out 69.1% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Badger Meter has raised its dividend for 32 consecutive years.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Badger Meter and its rivals, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Badger Meter	1	5	6	0	2.42
Badger Meter Competitors	2049	7621	10455	667	2.47

Badger Meter currently has a consensus price target of $166.33, indicating a potential upside of 4.48%. As a group, “Electronic Equipment, Instruments & Components” companies have a potential upside of 35.71%. Given Badger Meter’s rivals stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Badger Meter has less favorable growth aspects than its rivals.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Badger Meter and its rivals top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Badger Meter	$916.66 million	$141.63 million	36.77
Badger Meter Competitors	$4.00 billion	$172.92 million	4.83

Badger Meter’s rivals have higher revenue and earnings than Badger Meter. Badger Meter is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its rivals, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Profitability

This table compares Badger Meter and its rivals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Badger Meter	14.36%	18.49%	13.02%
Badger Meter Competitors	-160.23%	-30.21%	-6.88%

Summary

Badger Meter rivals beat Badger Meter on 8 of the 15 factors compared.

Badger Meter Company Profile

Badger Meter, Inc. manufactures and markets flow measurement, quality, control, and communication solutions worldwide. It offers mechanical or static water meters, and related radio and software technologies and services to municipal water utilities market. The company also provides flow instrumentation products, including meters, valves, and other sensing instruments to measure and control fluids going through a pipe or pipeline, including water, air, steam, and other liquids and gases to original equipment manufacturers as the primary flow measurement device within a product or system, as well as through manufacturers' representatives. In addition, the company offers ORION Cellular endpoints to power network as a service; ORION mobile read endpoints support for deploying AMR solution; radio products; hardware, instruments, and sensors, and related software, to enhance connected data to a water utility's operation; water quality monitoring solutions, including optical sensing and electrochemical instruments; and high frequency pressure and leak detection sensors to aid in burst pipe and leak events; as well as BEACON, a secure cloud-hosted software suite that establishes alerts for specific conditions and allows consumer engagement tools that permit end water customers to view and manage their water usage activity. Its flow instrumentation products are used in water/wastewater, heating, ventilating and air conditioning, and corporate sustainability markets. The company serves water utilities, commercial, and industrial industries; and provides training, project management, technical support, and other collaborative services for customers. It sells its products and software directly, as well as through resellers and representatives. The company was incorporated in 1905 and is based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.