A century-old meter maker becomes a cellular, software-led “water OS”—now in a temporary project air pocket before PRASA and sewer monitoring re-accelerate growth.
Overview
Badger Meter is a 120+ year-old Milwaukee-based water technology company that has evolved from a mechanical meter manufacturer into a higher-margin, hardware-enabled software platform provider. Its business is concentrated in Utility Water (88% of net sales) and complemented by Flow Instrumentation (12%). The company’s BlueEdge offering combines smart metering (especially ultrasonic), cellular connectivity (ORION endpoints), and a cloud SaaS analytics layer (BEACON). Recurring revenue is rising, highlighted by SaaS growing ~27% YoY as of FY 2025, and the model is increasingly subscription-like through cellular “Network-as-a-Service.” The long-term opportunity is the digitization of water infrastructure as utilities confront aging networks, water scarcity, and tightening regulation around non-revenue water and sewer overflows. Near-term results turned volatile in Q1 2026 due to project timing: revenue fell 9% and EPS fell ~29% as several large turnkey projects completed before new deployments ramped. Despite the reset to flat 2026 organic growth, the company maintains a strong pipeline (2.6M–3.6M connections) and a major catalyst in the PRASA contract (1.6M connections) beginning mid-2026, supported by a debt-free balance sheet and strong free cash flow conversion.