← All companies ← BMBL Manual BMNP → ← BHE Electronic Components & Instruments CAMT →

BMI, Badger Meter

Electronic Components & Instruments capital-intensive Serial acquirer

Badger Meter is a leading innovator, manufacturer and marketer of products incorporating flow measurement, quality, control and other system solutions serving markets worldwide.

Badger Meter market Overview, Products and Solutions With more than a century of water technology innovation, Badger Meter is a global provider of industry leading water management solutions, with approximately 95% of net sales derived from water-related applications.

Badger Meter's offerings, marketed as BlueEdge , represent a suite of tailorable solutions that connect water management technology, software, and support services to deliver insights enabling the proactive management of water across the water cycle.

Latest annual: FY2025 10-K

BMI · Badger Meter

The business

What it sells, where the money comes from, the kind of company it is.

Revenue · FY2025

$917M

+10.9% YoY · 17% 5-yr CAGR

Vital signs · TTM, with 5-yr average

Revenue $897M 5-yr avg $704M

Gross margin 41% 5-yr avg 40%

Operating margin 18.9% 5-yr avg 17.4%

ROIC 21% 5-yr avg 18%

Owner-earnings margin 19% 5-yr avg 16%

Free cash flow margin 19% 5-yr avg 16%

The business in brief

read the 10-K →

What this business is and what moves its needle, from its own SEC filings.

Situation: Serial acquirer. Goodwill and acquired intangibles are 36% of assets, with meaningful acquisition spending in 5 of the record's 10 years; much of what this business is was bought, at prices the record carries.
What moves the needle: Gross margin has run about 39% and operating margin about 15% through the cycle, a solid spread between what it charges and what the product costs to make. Inventory runs near 19% of sales, so how fast it turns back into cash — and the risk of writing it down when demand softens — sits alongside the margin. Read this kind of business on the installed base and the upgrade cycle. On its own account, the filing leans hardest on pricing power & competition, set against the numbers in what the filing emphasizes, below.
Is it a good business?: Return on capital has run in the teens (median 17%, above 15% in 7 of 10 years). Owner earnings agree: roughly 15% of revenue reaches owners as cash, consistently. Returns like these are solid but short of clear franchise economics; whether they hold is what the 10-K settles, not the multiple.

Every line is arithmetic on the company's filings, shown in full in the sections below.

The record

Ten years of arithmetic, read across the cycle.

The record, 2016–2025

realized figures from each filing · older years to the left

2016’16	2017’17	2018’18	2019’19	2020’20	2021’21	2022’22	2023’23	2024’24	2025’25	TTMTTMMar 2026
											Income statement
$394M	$402M	$434M	$425M	$426M	$505M	$566M	$704M	$827M	$917M	$897M	RevenueRevenue
38%	39%	37%	39%	40%	41%	39%	39%	40%	42%	41%	Gross marginGross mgn
25%	25%	24%	24%	24%	25%	23%	23%	21%	22%	23%	SG&A / revenueSG&A/rev
3%	3%	3%	3%	3%	3%	3%	3%	2%	2%	2%	R&D / revenueR&D/rev
$53M	$57M	$57M	$62M	$65M	$79M	$87M	$118M	$158M	$183M	$169M	Operating incomeOp. inc.
13.4%	14.1%	13.1%	14.6%	15.3%	15.6%	15.4%	16.8%	19.1%	20.0%	18.9%	Operating marginOp. mgn
$32M	$35M	$28M	$47M	$49M	$61M	$66M	$93M	$125M	$142M	$131M	Net incomeNet inc.
35%	37%	22%	23%	24%	23%	24%	24%	25%	25%	25%	Effective tax rateTax rate
											Cash flow & returns
$56M	$50M	$60M	$81M	$90M	$88M	$82M	$110M	$155M	$184M	$185M	Operating cash flowOp. cash
$11M	$12M	$11M	$12M	$12M	$11M	$11M	$11M	$11M	$11M	$11M	DepreciationDeprec.
$12M	$1M	$17M	$21M	$27M	$13M	$2M	$1M	$13M	$22M	$33M	Working capital & otherWC & other
$11M	$15M	$9M	$7M	$9M	$7M	$6M	$12M	$13M	$14M	$15M	CapexCapex
2.7%	3.7%	2.0%	1.8%	2.1%	1.3%	1.0%	1.7%	1.6%	1.5%	1.7%	Capex / revenueCapex/rev
$46M	$35M	$52M	$73M	$81M	$81M	$77M	$98M	$142M	$173M	$173M	Owner earningsOwner earn.
11.6%	8.6%	11.9%	17.2%	18.9%	16.0%	13.5%	13.9%	17.2%	18.8%	19.3%	Owner earnings marginOE mgn
$46M	$35M	$52M	$73M	$81M	$81M	$77M	$98M	$142M	$170M	$169M	Free cash flowFCF
11.6%	8.6%	11.9%	17.2%	18.9%	16.0%	13.5%	13.9%	17.2%	18.5%	18.9%	Free cash flow marginFCF mgn
$2M	$20M	$8M	—	$29M	$45M	$0	$17M	$3M	$184M	$0	AcquisitionsAcquis.
$12M	$14M	$16M	$19M	$20M	$22M	$25M	$29M	$36M	$44M	$45M	Dividends paidDiv. paid
$0	$4M	$5M	$5M	$3M	$460K	$427K	$0	$0	$15M	—	BuybacksBuybacks
13%	13%	15%	17%	17%	19%	15%	17%	20%	19%	21%	ROICROIC
13%	12%	9%	14%	14%	15%	15%	18%	21%	20%	19%	Return on equityROE
8%	7%	4%	9%	8%	10%	9%	12%	15%	14%	12%	Retained to equityRetained/eq
											Balance sheet
—	$11M	$13M	$49M	$72M	$87M	—	—	—	—	$89M	Cash & investmentsCash+inv
$60M	$58M	$66M	$61M	$62M	$66M	$77M	$84M	$84M	$112M	$110M	ReceivablesReceiv.
$78M	$85M	$81M	$82M	$82M	$100M	$120M	$154M	$143M	$152M	$175M	InventoryInvent.
$18M	$29M	$22M	$32M	$35M	$42M	$71M	$82M	$56M	$72M	$106M	Accounts payablePayables
$119M	$115M	$125M	$112M	$108M	$124M	$125M	$155M	$172M	$192M	$179M	Operating working capitalOper. WC
$151M	$159M	$165M	$200M	$224M	$261M	$348M	$442M	$540M	$507M	$508M	Current assetsCur. assets
$76M	$93M	$60M	$57M	$68M	$82M	$110M	$132M	$118M	$151M	$169M	Current liabilitiesCur. liab.
2.0×	1.7×	2.7×	3.5×	3.3×	3.2×	3.2×	3.4×	4.6×	3.4×	3.0×	Current ratioCurr. ratio
$49M	$67M	$71M	$71M	$89M	$104M	$101M	$113M	$112M	$236M	$235M	GoodwillGoodwill
$350M	$392M	$393M	$422M	$471M	$531M	$603M	$717M	$816M	$974M	$971M	Total assetsAssets
—	($11M)	($13M)	($49M)	($72M)	($87M)	—	—	—	—	($89M)	Net debt / (cash)Net debt
$256M	$277M	$304M	$331M	$361M	$403M	$442M	$516M	$606M	$713M	$690M	Shareholders’ equityEquity
0.4%	0.4%	1.0%	0.3%	0.3%	0.5%	0.6%	0.7%	0.7%	1.0%	1.1%	Stock comp / revenueSBC/rev
											Per share
29.1M	29.1M	29.2M	29.2M	29.2M	29.3M	29.4M	29.5M	29.5M	29.6M	29.4M	Shares out (diluted)Shares
$13.55	$13.82	$14.86	$14.53	$14.56	$17.22	$19.25	$23.89	$27.99	$31.00	$30.54	Revenue / shareRev/sh
$1.11	$1.19	$0.95	$1.61	$1.69	$2.08	$2.26	$3.14	$4.23	$4.79	$4.45	EPS (diluted)EPS
$1.57	$1.19	$1.77	$2.51	$2.75	$2.75	$2.61	$3.33	$4.82	$5.84	$5.91	Owner earnings / shareOE/sh
$1.57	$1.19	$1.77	$2.51	$2.75	$2.75	$2.61	$3.33	$4.82	$5.74	$5.76	Free cash flow / shareFCF/sh
$0.43	$0.49	$0.56	$0.64	$0.70	$0.76	$0.85	$0.99	$1.21	$1.47	$1.54	Dividends / shareDiv/sh
$0.36	$0.52	$0.30	$0.26	$0.31	$0.23	$0.20	$0.41	$0.43	$0.47	$0.53	Cap. spending / shareCapex/sh
$8.82	$9.53	$10.40	$11.33	$12.36	$13.74	$15.06	$17.53	$20.53	$24.12	$23.51	Book value / shareBVPS

Per-share growththe realized rate an owner's share compounded

	9-yr	5-yr
Revenue / share	+9.6%/yr	+16.3%/yr
Owner earnings / share	+15.7%/yr	+16.2%/yr
EPS	+17.6%/yr	+23.2%/yr
Dividends / share	+14.7%/yr	+16.2%/yr
Capital spending / share	+3.0%/yr	+8.9%/yr
Book value / share	+11.8%/yr	+14.3%/yr

The record, charted

FY2016–2025

Each measure over its full record; the current point and the worst year marked.

Share count

30Mpeak FY2025

ROIC

19%low FY2016

Gross margin

42%low FY2018

Owner earnings vs. net income

Owner earningsNet income

The accountant's number, and the cash an owner can take; the gap is the tell.

$173Mowner earningsvs.$142Mnet incomelow FY2017

Where the cash went

ReinvestBuybacksDividendsAcquisitionsRetainedBeyond op. cash

Each year's outlays against its operating cash: the mix, and how it drifts. The hatched cap is spending beyond that year's operating cash — financed from the balance sheet or borrowing, not operations.

FY2016FY2025

Owner-earnings bridge

FY2021–FY2025cash-flow statement, SEC EDGAR →

Net income is the accountant's number; owner earnings is the cash an owner could take out. The walk between them, off the cash-flow statement, and whether the gap is widening or holding.

In fiscal 2025 the business earned $173M of owner earnings, the operating cash left after the $11M it takes just to hold its position. It put $3M more into growth; free cash flow, after that spending, was $170M.

Reported net income$142M

Owner earnings$173M · 19% of revenue

	FY2025	FY2024	FY2023	FY2022	FY2021
Reported net income	$142M	$125M	$93M	$66M	$61M
Depreciation & amortizationnon-cash charge added back	+$11M	+$11M	+$11M	+$11M	+$11M
Stock-based compensationreal costnon-cash, but a real cost	+$9M	+$6M	+$5M	+$3M	+$2M
Working capital & othertiming of cash in and out, other non-cash items	+$22M	+$13M	+$1M	+$2M	+$13M
Cash from operations	$184M	$155M	$110M	$82M	$88M
Maintenance capital expenditurethe spending needed just to hold position and volume	−$11M	−$13M	−$12M	−$6M	−$7M
Owner earnings	$173M	$142M	$98M	$77M	$81M
Growth capital expenditurediscretionary; spent to get bigger, not to stand still	−$3M	—	—	—	—
Free cash flow	$170M	$142M	$98M	$77M	$81M
Owner-earnings marginowner earnings ÷ revenue	19%	17%	14%	14%	16%

Owner earnings is the cash an owner could pull out without starving the business: operating cash less the maintenance capital it must spend to hold its position (here about $11M, roughly its depreciation, the rate its assets wear out). The other $3M of its capital spending is growth it chose, not upkeep it owed; charged only with the maintenance it must do, the business earns well more than the year's free cash flow shows. The cash-flow statement also adds stock comp back as non-cash, but it is a real cost paid in shares; counted as the expense it is (less $9M), owner earnings is nearer $163M.

Maintenance capex is estimated as depreciation where a growing business invests above it; free cash flow is the figure the scorecard's free-cash margin reads.

III

Quality & stewardship

Returns, the balance sheet, capital allocation, and pay.

Owner’s Scorecard

FY2025 10-K · source on SEC EDGAR →

Will it survive?

Can it pay its interest? —

No meaningful interest burden

Little or no interest expense reported

What this means
Little or no interest expense reported, the business isn't leaning on lenders to operate.
How heavy is the debt, net of cash? +$87M

Net cash, debt-free

Cash $87M − debt $0

What this means
Cash and short-term investments exceed every dollar of debt by $87M, on net the company owes nothing, and can act from strength when others can't. Net debt is the leverage figure that matters: the cash is already set against the debt. Strategic or illiquid investments aren't counted here.
How long is cash tied up? 99d

Long (60+ days)

DSO 45 + DIO 104 − DPO 49 days

What this means
Days cash is tied up between paying suppliers and collecting from customers. Lower is better; a long cycle means growth itself eats cash.

Is it a good business?

Return on invested capital —

Not enough data

Industry peers: median 1%

What this means
The filing data didn't include the inputs for this check.
Owner-earnings margin 14%

Solid through the cycle

10-yr median margin, range 9%–19%; latest $173M = operating cash $184M − maintenance capex $11M

Industry peers: median 5%

What this means
What an owner could take out without starving the business: operating cash less the maintenance capital it must spend to hold its position — Buffett's owner earnings. That's 19% of revenue this year, a 14% median across 10 years. Treating stock comp as the real expense it is (less $9M of SBC) leaves $163M.
Are earnings backed by cash? 1.30×

Cash-backed

Cash from ops $184M ÷ net income $142M

What this means
How much of reported profit showed up as operating cash. Above 1× is reassuring; well below suggests earnings lean on accruals. One year is noisy, growth and working-capital swings distort it, and this is operating cash, not free cash. Watch the multi-year trend.

How is the cash used?

Where do the earnings go? 34%

Reinvests most of it

Dividends + buybacks $59M ÷ Owner Earnings $173M

What this means
Of $173M Owner Earnings, $59M (34%) went back to shareholders, $44M dividends, $15M buybacks. Net of $9M stock comp, the real buyback was about $6M. Returning most of it is the mark of a mature business with little left to reinvest at a high return; reinvesting most could mean a long runway, or empire-building. The split doesn't say which; the return earned on it (see ROIC) does.
Investing or harvesting? 1.26×

Expanding

Capex $14M ÷ depreciation $11M

What this means
Descriptive, not a grade. Above ~1× means investing faster than assets wear out (growth, or, sustained for years, today's earnings carrying less depreciation than tomorrow's will). Below means spending less than it's wearing out (efficiency, or a melting asset base). The ratio won't tell you which; the filings will.

Graham’s defensive tests · 4 of 5 met

Graham’s numerical criteria for the defensive investor (The Intelligent Investor, ch. 14), run on the filings. A floor of safety, not a buy signal; many fine modern businesses fail his strictest liquidity rules by design.

Adequate size Miss

Revenue ≥ $2B · $917M

What this means
Big enough to weather a storm. Graham's 1972 floor was ~$100M of sales (≈ $700M today); we use a $2B revenue line as a conservative modern stand-in.
Strong liquidity Pass

Current ratio ≥ 2× · 3.36×

What this means
Current assets at least twice current liabilities, near-term bills covered without touching the business. Strict by design: many cash-rich modern firms run leaner and miss it, holding their cushion in longer-dated securities.
Earnings stability Pass

A profit every year (10-yr record) · no losses

What this means
Graham wanted earnings in each of the past ten years, the stability a defensive owner leans on.
Dividend record Pass

Uninterrupted dividends · paid every year (10)

What this means
An unbroken dividend was Graham's mark of durability. He wanted twenty years; the filings show about ten, and a single suspension breaks the streak. Non-payers, many fine modern compounders, fall outside his defensive net by design.
Earnings growth Pass

Earnings +33% over the record · +279%

What this means
At least a third more earnings than a decade ago, averaging three years at each end. Net income (not per-share), so stock splits don't distort it, buybacks and dilution show up in the share-count line instead.
Moderate price —

P/E ≤ 15 and P/E × P/B ≤ 22.5 · decided by the price

What this means
Graham's valuation gate, the wall he kept between a sound business and a sound investment. Three-year average earnings are $4.10/share (latest year $4.85), the averaged base the calculator's gate runs on, and book value is $24.44/share. Enter a price in “What the price implies” just below for the P/E, P/B, and whether it clears. But this is the rule Buffett outgrew: there's no hard P/E law, and a wonderful business can deserve a far richer multiple if the thesis holds, treat it as the bargain-hunter's floor, not a verdict on the price.

Durability & moat, 2016–2025

Whether the record’s returns held, and what the capital reinvested earned.

Profitable years 10 of 10

What this means
Never lost money over the record, the earnings stability Graham insisted on.
Operating margin 14% → 19% (3-yr avg ends)

In the filing’s words The record and the words agree: the margin widened and the filing attributes the gain to its own pricing, not volume alone.

What this means
Through the cycle the operating margin widened — about 14% early to 19% lately, median 15% — pricing power intact or improving.
Owner earnings growth +16%/yr

What this means
Owner earnings grew about 16% a year over the record.
Worst year 2018 · 13.1% op. margin

What this means
Stayed profitable even in its hardest year, the resilience that survives recessions.
Share count +0.2%/yr

What this means
Roughly flat share count, little dilution, little buyback.
Dividend record rising

What this means
Paid and raised the dividend across the record, the continuity Graham prized.

Does AI threaten the moat?

Low contestability

The moat is physical, regulated or balance-sheet-funded, the kind AI cuts costs within but does not contest.

In its own filing Framed as a capability

The filing positions AI as something the company uses, not something it fears.

“The development and adoption of artificial intelligence technologies intensifies these risks and may give rise to new tools for unauthorized parties to target our systems.”

AI is unlikely to contest a moat that is physical, regulated or balance-sheet-funded; here it reads more as a cost tool than a threat, and the company is using it that way.

Read from the filing's own risk factors, paired with the industry's structure under its SIC code; the durability is read above, the price below.

All figures as filed; the source filing is linked above.

Current Position

as of the latest quarter, Mar 31, 2026

Can the business pay what it owes this year, off the freshest balance sheet: the quality of the assets, the debt actually coming due, and what a low ratio means here.

Current assets$508M

Cash & short-term investments$89M
Receivables$110M
Inventory$175M
Other current assets$134M

Current liabilities$169M

Accounts payable$106M
Other current liabilities$63M

Current ratio3.00×all current assets ÷ what's due · Graham looked for 2×

Quick ratio1.97×stricter: inventory excluded

Cash ratio0.53×strictest: cash alone against what's due

Working capital$339Mthe cushion left after near-term bills

Revenue, latest quarter vs. a year ago−9.0%the freshest read on whether the business is still growing

Current ratio, recent quarters3.7× → 3.0×

Deeper floors

Tangible book value$341Mequity stripped of goodwill & intangibles

Net current asset value$492MGraham's net-net: current assets less all liabilities

Deferred revenue$73Mcustomer cash collected before delivery; operating float

From the company's latest filing.

How the cash was used, 2016–2025

Over the record, the business generated $955M of operating cash; how management split it reads as a balanced allocator, splitting cash between the business, owners, and the balance sheet.

Reinvested$102M · 11%
Dividends$237M · 25%
Buybacks$33M · 3%
Retained (debt / cash)$582M · 61%

Returned to owners$271M
32% of the owner earnings the business produced over the span, $237M as dividends and $33M as buybacks.
Average price paid for buybacks$182.95
Across the years where the filing reports a share count, 0M shares were bought for $15M, about $182.95 each.
Net change in share count1.1%
The diluted count rose from 29M to 29M: issuance (stock pay, deals) outran any buybacks, so owners were diluted on net.
Dividend record$1.47/sh
Paid in 10 of the years on record, the per-share dividend growing about 15% a year. It was never cut over the span.
Return on what it retained23%
Of the earnings it kept rather than paid out ($407M over the span), annual owner earnings (first three years vs last three) grew $94M, so each retained $1 added about 0.23 of yearly owner earnings. Buffett's test, run on owner earnings instead of market value.

Buybacks are gross of stock issued to staff; the share-count line above is the net of that, the figure that decides whether owners gained. The average price paid blends a year of purchases (and any accelerated repurchase), so it is close, not exact. The record of where the cash went and on what terms.

Acquisitions & goodwill

from the balance sheet & the 10-year cash-flow record

Goodwill grows only when a company acquires and falls only when it concedes it overpaid. The size of that bet, the cash put into buying rather than building, and how much has already been written off.

Goodwill & intangibles$354M36% of all assets; the premium carried on the balance sheet for businesses acquired

Against book equity33%goodwill is this share of book equity; the rest is the company’s own retained and paid-in capital

Cash spent acquiring$309Mover 10 years buying other businesses, against $102M of capital spent building

None written down over the record; the goodwill is still carried at full cost. That is the deals holding their value on the books so far; whether they keep doing so is the test an owner watches, since the write-down, when it comes, is the admission the price was too high.

Goodwill, acquired intangibles and equity from the latest balance sheet; acquisition spend and write-downs summed across the 10-year record, from the company's own filings.

Management, ownership & pay

read the proxy →

From the proxy: how much of the business the people running it own, and how they are paid, beside what the business earned for its owners in the same years.

Fiscal year	Chief executive	Pay, as filed	“Actually paid”	Owner earnings
2021	Mr. Bockhorst	$3.7M	$4.8M	$81M
2022	Mr. Bockhorst	$3.9M	$4.5M	$77M
2023	Mr. Bockhorst	$4.5M	$8.0M	$98M
2024	Mr. Bockhorst	$5.1M	$9.6M	$142M
2025	Mr. Bockhorst	$5.9M	$6.3M	$173M

Both pay figures are the company’s own, from the pay-versus-performance table its proxy statement files. “As filed” is the Summary Compensation Table total: salary, bonus, and equity awards at their value on the day of grant. “Actually paid” is the SEC’s prescribed recalculation, which re-marks those equity awards to what they became as they vested; it can swing far above or below the filed figure in either direction, and negative years occur. Owner earnings are the whole business's, from the record above, for the same fiscal years.

Insider ownership1%
The stake all directors and executive officers hold together, per the 2026 proxy: skin in the game, the first thing Munger reads.
Stock-based compensation$9M
The slice of the business handed to employees in shares this year, 1% of revenue, equal to 5% of operating profit. Buffett's oldest accounting fight: this is compensation, compensation is an expense, real whether or not the headline earnings admit it. One trap: the cash-flow statement adds SBC back, so the operating cash, and the owner earnings drawn from it, are flattered by exactly this amount; counted as the cost it is, what an owner keeps is lower.

Inverting the record

Invert: instead of why Badger Meter is a good business, the question is what would make owning it a mistake, and whether those marks are in the record. Disconfirming tests across 2016–2025.

None of the 4 tests turned up a mark; each came back clean. A clean panel says only that these particular ways of being wrong are not written into the record.

Each test came back clean

Is it less profitable than it was?
Did the share count rise anyway?
Did reported profit become cash?
Did receivables and inventory outpace sales?

Each test is read from the filings and is noisy alone; a flag can mark a cyclical trough or a year of heavy investment as easily as a problem. The filing says which.

What an owner would ask, FY2025

read the 10-K →

Which reported numbers are a judgment call?
Management names Income taxes, Acquisitions as critical estimates
each rests partly on management's judgment; the filing's note sets out the assumptionsverify →

The questions the record and the charts do not answer on their own; each carries the figure and the place to look.

Peers, Electronic Components & Instruments

The same industry, side by side on owner economics. Each figure is a through-cycle median, so a peak or trough year can’t distort it; the group median at the foot is the line to read each against.

Company	Revenue	Gross margin	Op. margin	ROIC	Owner earn. margin
VNTVontier Corporation Common Stock	$3.1B	44%	18.2%	17%	14%
KODKEastman Kodak Company Common New	$1.1B	15%	-5.6%	-2%	-6%
ONTOOnto Innovation	$1.0B	52%	14.2%	10%	19%
MIRMirion Technologies Inc.	$925M	43%	2.9%	-1%	5%
BMIBadger Meter	$917M	39%	15.4%	17%	15%
WRBYWarby Parker Inc.	$872M	57%	-10.7%	-67%	3%
ALNTAllient Inc.	$554M	30%	7.4%	8%	5%
COHUCohu Inc	$453M	39%	0.8%	1%	7%
Group median	—	41%	5.1%	4%	6%

The price

What a price has to assume.

What the price implies

reverse-DCF

Type today's close and see the owner-earnings growth you'd have to believe to justify it, beside what Badger Meter has delivered.

Badger Meter’s latest year runs above its own through-cycle margin — the reported figure may flatter a peak. So the tool opens on the through-cycle base, Graham’s averaging cutting both ways; clear the toggle below to read the latest year exactly as reported.

Today’s price $

Through the cycle, Badger Meter earns about $137M on its 15.0% median owner-earnings margin. This year’s 18.8% margin runs above that; the reported figure may flatter a peak you'd be paying on. Normalize, below, values the price on that through-cycle figure rather than the latest year. It comes pre-checked here for that reason, the same rule that already normalizes a trough; clear it to price the year as filed.

Base Normalize · through-cycle ($137M) Net of stock comp (−$10M) Steady-state · maintenance capex ($173M)

—

The assumptions Required return 9% Years of high growth 10 Terminal growth 2.5%

9.0% = the 4.55% 10-year Treasury (Jul 15, 2026) + 4.45 points of equity premium. The rate you require is yours to set.

Enter a price above to run it.

Implied by the price—

Owner-earnings growth · ’21→’25+19%/yr

Owner-earnings growth · ’16→’25+16%/yr

Owner-earnings yield—

P/E (3-yr earnings ’23–’25)—

P/B—

Graham’s price gate—

Graham capped the multiple at 15×; Buffett and Munger let that rule go: a wonderful business can deserve 50× if the thesis holds. The gate marks the bargain-hunter's floor.

Against a high-grade bond: Graham’s yardstick bond yield%

Prefilled with the 10-year Treasury (4.55%, as of Jul 15, 2026). Edit it for today’s exact figure, or a AAA corporate yield.

Graham measured a stock against the bond you could own instead, the heart of his margin of safety. Enter a price above to weigh the owner-earnings yield against this bond.

Free cash flow $169M on 29M shares outstanding, per the 10-Q cover, as of 2026-04-08; net cash $89M. The base opens on the through-cycle figure (the latest year sits above the record’s own median, and Graham’s averaging cuts both ways); clear Normalize to use the year as filed. Net of stock comp treats option pay as the expense it is. Capex ($15M) runs well above depreciation ($11M), so this is a build-out; Steady-state swaps total capex for maintenance (≈ depreciation), lifting the base to about $173M, the cash it would throw off if it stopped expanding. The dials set the multiple a growth belief justifies; the price, and every dollar on this page, is yours.

Weigh BMI against another business →

The owners of BMI: the meeting and the votes →

Cite: Owner Scorecard, "Badger Meter (BMI), the owner's record," https://ownerscorecard.com/c/BMI, data as of 2026-07-09.

Manual order: ← BMBL its page in the Manual BMNP →

Industry order: ← BHE the Electronic Components & Instruments chapter CAMT →