Benzinga | Jul 20, 2021 08:58AM EDT

Badger Meter Beats On Q2 Earnings, Expands Profit Margins

* Badger Meter, Inc (NYSE:BMI) reported second-quarter FY21 sales growth of 35% year-on-year to $122.9 million, beating the analyst consensus of $118.35 million.

* Robust order activity and water quality acquisitions drove a 38% Y/Y growth in utility water sales.

* Core utility water sales increased 22% Y/Y with growth in BEACON SaaS revenue, strong AMR and ORION cellular-based AMI demand, and favorable value-based pricing realization.

* Sales of flow instrumentation products also grew 22% Y/Y.

* The gross margin improved 150 basis points to 40.8%.

* The operating margin expanded 130 basis points to 15.2%.

* Good acquisition and product sales mix, including higher SaaS revenues and value-based pricing initiative benefits, drove the margin expansion offset by higher brass and other supply chain and logistics costs.

* EPS of $0.48 beat the analyst consensus of $0.46.

* It held $57.4 million in cash and equivalents and generated $14.5 million in operating cash flow.

* Order rates remained robust, carrying on the momentum from Q1 as utility customers continued to select innovative digital water technologies and global flow instrumentation market activity stabilized, Chair and CEO Kenneth C. Bockhorst stated.

* Price action: BMI shares closed lower by 0.05% at $94.22 on Monday.