Badger Meter Attains 52-Week High - Analyst Blog

Shares of Badger Meter Inc. BMI crafted a new 52-week high of $56.96 on Apr 3, up from its previous high of $56.67 on Apr 2.

The stock closed at $56.12 at the end of trading yesterday, with a one-year return of about 8.8% and year-to-date return of about 3.3%, outperforming the S&P 500. The average volume of shares traded over the last three months was roughly 54K. This provider of liquid flow measurement products and control technologies has a market cap of $808.5 million.

Growth Drivers

Shares of Badger Meter have been rising, following its fourth-quarter 2013 results on Feb 5. The company reported record fourth-quarter 2013 earnings per share of 44 cents, which was up 12.8% year over year and beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 43 cents as well.

Net sales also increased 9% year over year to $81 million, aided by higher sales of residential and commercial municipal water products. The results came ahead of the Zacks Consensus Estimate.

Badger Meter will continue to benefit from investment in research and development as well as the introduction of several new products. Innovation in product offering is a key element of Badger Meter‘s growth strategy.

Recently, the company expanded its E-Series ultrasonic meters with a polymer version. It is a cost-effective alternative to the stainless steel version. E-Series continues to be widely accepted by customers outside North America as well. In addition, the introduction of ORION SE, the first simultaneous drive-by fixed-network product, will help to meet the rising demand from customers.

Badger Meter also launched the BEACON Advanced Metering Analytics (AMA) system, thereby becoming the first major water meter company to provide water utilities with cost-effective cellular radio endpoints. Moreover, the aforementioned system has a longer battery life and advanced software that allows customers to view and manage water usage activity effectively.

Furthermore, the Elster business and the ongoing economic recovery will help to drive growth. Moreover, Badger Meter will benefit from higher volumes in its municipal and industrial product lines.

At present, Badger Meter has Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Other Stocks to Consider

Other players worth considering in the sector include Teradyne Inc. TER, Ametek Inc. AME and Mettler-Toledo International Inc. MTD. While Teradyne sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Ametek and Mettler-Toledo have a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).