Badger Meter (BMI) Misses Q1 Earnings & Revenue Estimates

Badger Meter Inc.’s BMIfirst-quarter 2018 earnings declined 13% year over year to 26 cents per share. In addition, earnings missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 39 cents.

Sales in the quarter increased 3.4% year over year to a record $105 million, but fell short of the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $109 million.

The year-over-year upswing was driven by increased BEACON Advanced Metering Analytics revenues, and the recent D-Flow and Carolina Meter acquisitions. However, the company’s domestic municipal water-meter sales remained flat year over year in the quarter, partly due to delay in several expected orders affected by poor weather conditions.

Cost and Margins

Cost of sales rose 8.5% year over year to $68.3 million. Gross profit in the reported quarter came in at $36.7 million, down 4.9% from $38.7 million recorded in the year-earlier quarter. Gross margin came in at 35%, contracting 300 basis points (bps) from the year-ago quarter due to lower-volume impact on capacity-utilization costs, higher brass expenses and the Scottsdale shut-down costs.