Badger Meter, Inc. (BMI) DCF Valuation & Fundamental Primer
Badger Meter, Inc. (BMI) currently trades at $177.03 with an enterprise value of $3.35B. Our proprietary institutional model rates Badger Meter, Inc. at 86/100 (Grade: A · High-Quality Compounder). The current market price prices in an implied 5-year revenue CAGR of 24.9% vs. historical growth of 15.0% (Aggressive Growth Expectations Priced In).
Institutional fundamental teardown of Badger Meter, Inc. (BMI) covering SEC 10-K/10-Q cash flow conversion, SBC dilution friction, and Reverse-DCF valuation hurdles.
Badger Meter, Inc. (BMI) 3-Scenario DCF Valuation Range
Stress-test BMI's 5-year growth, target FCF margin, WACC, terminal methodology, and SBC/dilution friction in real time.
Split between 5-Year Explicit Cash Flows and Discounted Terminal Value
2D Institutional Valuation Sensitivity Heatmap
Implied share price & upside/downside spread across 25 valuation states (Current Price: $177.03).
| WACC \ Terminal | 1.5% | 2.0% | 2.5% | 3.0% | 3.5% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8.5% | $137.77 -22% | $145.72 -18% | $154.99 -12% | $165.95 -6% | $179.09 +1% |
| 9.3% | $124.84 -29% | $131.10 -26% | $138.28 -22% | $146.62 -17% | $156.41 -12% |
| 10.0% | $114.20 -35% | $119.23 -33% | $124.94 -29% | $131.46 -26% | $138.98 -21% |
| 10.8% | $105.30 -41% | $109.42 -38% | $114.03 -36% | $119.24 -33% | $125.17 -29% |
| 11.5% | $97.76 -45% | $101.17 -43% | $104.96 -41% | $109.20 -38% | $113.97 -36% |
Institutional Software Quality Scorecard (86/100 · Grade A)
Strong fundamentals, above-average cash generation, and robust competitive positioning.
Elite deferred revenue float; FCF exceeds operating income by >20%
Standard software SBC dilution; modest equity transfer to employees
High-quality software margins with healthy balanced growth and profitability
Zero-debt fortress balance sheet with abundant net cash liquidity
Core Investment Strengths & Moats
- High-grade cash conversion: FCF is 212% of EBIT driven by upfront annual collections
- Healthy unit economics: 73.9% gross margin
- Fortress capital structure: Zero debt and $335.4M in pure net cash
Key Operational & Dilution Risks
Reverse-DCF Solver: What Growth is Priced Into BMI?
The current share price demands 24.9% 5-year CAGR (37.0% net of SBC & dilution)—a +9.9% acceleration over historical run-rate (15.0%). Any growth slowdown risks valuation multiple contraction.
Headline Reverse-DCF ignores Stock-Based Compensation (11.2% of revenue) and annual share dilution (1.8%/yr). Accounting for both requires 37.0% 5-year revenue CAGR to justify $177.03/sh on a true per-share economic cash flow basis.
Badger Meter, Inc. (BMI) 5-Year Fundamental Forecast
| Statement Line Item | TTM Audited Base | TTM | Y1 | Y2 | Y3 | Y4 | Y5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $745.3M | $745.3M | $857.1M | $985.6M | $1.13B | $1.30B | $1.50B |
| Gross Profit | $550.8M | $550.8M | $633.4M | $728.4M | $837.7M | $963.3M | $1.11B |
| Operating Income (EBIT) | $69.3M | $69.3M | $79.7M | $91.7M | $105.4M | $121.2M | $139.4M |
| Stock-Based Compensation (SBC) | $83.5M | $83.5M | $96.0M | $110.4M | $127.0M | $146.0M | $167.9M |
| Unlevered Free Cash Flow (FCF) | $146.8M | $146.8M | $168.8M | $194.2M | $223.3M | $256.8M | $295.3M |
| SBC-Adjusted True Cash Flow | $63.3M | $63.3M | $72.9M | $83.8M | $96.3M | $110.8M | $127.4M |
Software & Cloud Services Peer Comparables & Rule of 40 Regression
Rule of 40 vs. EV / Revenue Multiple Regression
OLS Fit: EV/Rev = -16.1 + 0.55 × (Rule of 40) · R² = 68%Stocks below the gold regression line trade at a discount relative to their Rule of 40 compounding efficiency.
| Company | Ticker | Market Cap | TTM Revenue | Gross Margin | FCF Margin | Rule of 40 | SBC % Rev | EV / Rev |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Badger Meter, Inc. | BMI | $5.22B | $745.3M | 73.9% | 19.7% | 34.7% | 11.2% | 6.5× |
| ServiceNow | NOW | $152.61B | $10.98B | 79.2% | 31.1% | 54.2% | 15.9% | 13.9× |
| Workday, Inc. | WDAY | $50.35B | $8.00B | 75.0% | 27.4% | 43.9% | 19.0% | 6.4× |
| Salesforce | CRM | $217.10B | $37.90B | 77.2% | 32.8% | 42.8% | 8.4% | 5.8× |
| Datadog | DDOG | $46.05B | $2.68B | 80.8% | 31.1% | 57.7% | 21.3% | 17.4× |
| Snowflake Inc. | SNOW | $71.79B | $3.63B | 66.5% | 25.2% | 57.7% | 40.8% | 20.0× |
| Hubspot | HUBS | $19.89B | $2.63B | 85.0% | 21.3% | 52.7% | 19.2% | 7.7× |
| Peer Cohort Median Benchmark (N=6) | 78.2% | 29.2% | 53.5% | 19.1% | 10.8× | |||
EV / Revenue Multiple Compression Stress Test
| Multiple Scenario | EV / Revenue | Implied Enterprise Value | Implied Equity Value | Implied Share Price | Delta vs Current |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Current Multiple | 6.5× | $4.88B | $5.22B | $177.03 | 0.0% |
| -20% Multiple Compression | 5.2× | $3.91B | $4.24B | $143.90 | -20.0% |
| -35% Multiple Compression | 4.3× | $3.17B | $3.51B | $119.05 | -35.0% |
| Software Baseline Floor (5.0× EV/Rev) | 5.0× | $3.73B | $4.06B | $137.83 | -23.7% |
Frequently Asked Questions: Badger Meter, Inc. (BMI) Valuation
What is Badger Meter, Inc. (BMI)'s intrinsic DCF valuation and implied share price?
Based on audited SEC 10-K/10-Q filings and a 5-year 3-statement discounted cash flow (DCF) model, Badger Meter, Inc. (BMI) has a Base Case implied value of $124.94 per share (with a Bear Case of $65.31 and a Bull Case of $202.27), compared to its current price of $177.03. The model discounts projected free cash flows at a 10.0% WACC and a 2.5% terminal growth rate.
What is Badger Meter, Inc. (BMI)'s Rule of 40 score and Free Cash Flow margin?
Badger Meter, Inc. achieves a Rule of 40 score of 34.7%, combining a 15.0% revenue growth run-rate with a 19.7% TTM free cash flow margin on $745.3M in trailing twelve-month revenue. In the Software & Cloud Services peer cohort, the median Rule of 40 benchmark is 53.5%.
What revenue growth rate is priced into BMI stock according to Reverse-DCF analysis?
At $177.03 per share (Enterprise Value of $4.88B), our Reverse-DCF solver indicates the market is pricing in a 5-year implied revenue CAGR of 24.9%, compared to Badger Meter, Inc.'s historical CAGR of 15.0%. Overall market expectations are rated as "Aggressive Growth Expectations Priced In".
How does Badger Meter, Inc. compare to Software & Cloud Services software peers?
Badger Meter, Inc. (BMI) earns an institutional Software Quality Score of 86/100 (Grade A — High-Quality Compounder). Across its Software & Cloud Services peer group (NOW, WDAY, CRM, DDOG, SNOW), the cohort trades at a median EV/TTM Revenue multiple of 10.8× and a median gross margin of 78.2%.
How does Stock-Based Compensation (SBC) impact Badger Meter, Inc. (BMI)'s valuation?
Badger Meter, Inc. recorded $83.5M in TTM stock-based compensation (11.2% of revenue). When treating SBC as a cash-equivalent compensation expense, Badger Meter, Inc.'s SBC-adjusted free cash flow yield is 1.2%, scoring 16/25 on our Shareholder Dilution Friction pillar.
