So, Badger Meter (BMI) shares are up a bit on Monday. That’s the kind of thing that makes you look twice, because on Friday the company reported first-quarter results that were, well, not great. It also announced it’s buying another company. Investors seem to be sorting through the mixed bag.

The Acquisition: Buying Into Sewer Monitoring

The company is expanding its leadership in the sewer line monitoring market through the acquisition of UDlive Limited for $100 million. Badger Meter announced the acquisition of UDlive, a U.K.-based provider of sewer line monitoring solutions, which is expected to close by the end of April 2026. This acquisition aims to enhance Badger Meter’s BlueEdge portfolio and expand its presence in international markets.

The Earnings Snapshot: A Timing Issue?

Here’s the not-great part: the company reported a first-quarter sales decline of 9% to $202.3 million, missing estimates, while diluted EPS fell to 93 cents from $1.30, also below expectations. The company said the performance was impacted by project timing variability rather than underlying demand, pointing to a strong pipeline of awarded projects expected to ramp in the second half of 2026. So, the story is: the work is there, it just didn’t hit the books this quarter.

What Management Said on the Call

In the conference call, the company said it expects the second quarter 2026 organic revenue dollars to be sequentially higher. However, Badger Meter projects them to be down year over year against the ‘highest quarterly revenue figure in the company’s history’. Management noted no significant change in Section 232 tariff exposure as of April 17, 2026. To protect margins, the company implemented a 10% salary reduction for executive officers for the next six months starting in 2026. The company expects the UDlive acquisition to be accretive to EPS in Year 1.

Analyst Consensus & Recent Actions: Several analysts made changes to their price targets on Badger Meter following the earnings announcement.

• Baird analyst Quinn Fredrickson maintained Badger Meter with an Outperform rating and lowered the price target from $173 to $145.
• Stifel analyst Nathan Jones maintained the stock with a Buy and lowered the price target from $174 to $140.
• Barclays analyst William Grippin maintained Badger Meter with an Underweight rating and cut the price target from $136 to $110.
• RBC Capital analyst Jeffrey Reive maintained the stock with an Outperform rating and lowered the price target from $197 to $169.

A Technical Look at the Stock

The broader market is experiencing mixed trends, with the Dow Jones down 0.07% and the Russell 2000 gaining 0.50%. This divergence suggests that while Badger Meter is moving positively on its own news, broader market conditions remain uncertain.

Badger Meter is currently trading 28.6% below its 100-day simple moving average (SMA), indicating a bearish trend in the intermediate term. Additionally, the stock is 23.5% below its 20-day SMA, which suggests short-term weakness as well. The relative strength index (RSI) is at 23.89, indicating that the stock is oversold, which may suggest potential for a rebound if buying interest increases. The MACD is below the signal line, reflecting bearish momentum, which traders should monitor closely.

• Key Resistance: $151.50 — This level may act as a barrier for upward movement.
• Key Support: $115.00 — This level could provide buying interest if tested.

BMI Stock Price Activity: Badger Meter shares were up 0.69% at $116.34 at the time of publication on Monday, according to market data.