Badger Meter Delivers Strong Q2 Performance, Reaffirms Full-Year Outlook

The Badger Meter team has reported a solid second-quarter performance, with sequentially improved sales and a reaffirmation of their full-year revenue outlook. During the company's Q2 2026 earnings conference call, Ken Bockhorst, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer, highlighted the positive results.

The company delivered a modest increase in short-term order rates and within-flow instrumentation, with sales for the flow instrumentation product line up 6% year-over-year. This growth was driven by broad-based water application demand.

Badger Meter's Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer, Ken Bockhorst, stated that the team executed well on the margin front, continuing to manage operating cost controls as described in detail last quarter.

Total sales in Q2 were $222.3 million, representing a 7% decline year-over-year. Excluding the two-month benefit of UDlive sales of approximately $2 million, base sales were down 7.5% year-over-year. However, base sales were 9% higher than first-quarter levels, as several awarded projects began their initial ramp in shipments.

Utility water sales declined 8% year-over-year, but improved 8% sequentially on an organic basis. Sales for the flow instrumentation product line were up 6% year-over-year, driven by broad-based water application demand.

The company delivered improved operating leverage versus the first quarter, with overall operating earnings declining 12%. Operating margins were down 110 basis points to 17.7%, but base operating profit margins, excluding UDlive, remained solidly in the upper half of their normalized range at 18.4%.

Badger Meter's CFO, Dan Weltzin, noted that gross margin was 40.8%, down 30 basis points from the second quarter of 2025, primarily reflecting lower sales volumes and project mix. However, he emphasized that gross margins remained solidly in the upper half of their normalized range.

The increasing level of electronic component cost and availability pressures posed a challenge for the company, but they have been able to adequately mitigate these impacts to date.

Badger Meter reaffirmed their full-year 2026 organic revenue outlook, expecting it to be roughly flat with 2025 levels. The team remains confident in their ability to deliver strong results and meet customer needs.