Comparing Badger Meter (NYSE:BMI) and Thermon Group (NYSE:THR)

Badger Meter (NYSE:BMI) and Thermon Group (NYSE:THR) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, risk, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings, valuation and profitability.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

89.0% of Badger Meter shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 99.8% of Thermon Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.9% of Badger Meter shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 2.5% of Thermon Group shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Badger Meter and Thermon Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Badger Meter	15.74%	22.35%	16.27%
Thermon Group	10.74%	13.08%	8.40%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Badger Meter and Thermon Group, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Badger Meter	0	3	3	0	2.50
Thermon Group	0	0	0	0	0.00

Badger Meter currently has a consensus price target of $236.60, suggesting a potential downside of 4.38%. Given Badger Meter’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Badger Meter is more favorable than Thermon Group.

Risk & Volatility

Badger Meter has a beta of 0.85, meaning that its stock price is 15% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Thermon Group has a beta of 1.04, meaning that its stock price is 4% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Badger Meter and Thermon Group”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Badger Meter	$826.56 million	8.82	$124.94 million	$4.54	54.50
Thermon Group	$498.21 million	1.83	$53.51 million	$1.57	17.47

Badger Meter has higher revenue and earnings than Thermon Group. Thermon Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Badger Meter, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Badger Meter beats Thermon Group on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Badger Meter

Badger Meter, Inc. manufactures and markets flow measurement, quality, control, and communication solutions worldwide. It offers mechanical or static water meters, and related radio and software technologies and services to municipal water utilities market. The company also provides flow instrumentation products, including meters, valves, and other sensing instruments to measure and control fluids going through a pipe or pipeline, including water, air, steam, and other liquids and gases to original equipment manufacturers as the primary flow measurement device within a product or system, as well as through manufacturers' representatives. In addition, the company offers ORION Cellular endpoints to power network as a service; ORION mobile read endpoints support for deploying AMR solution; radio products; hardware, instruments, and sensors, and related software, to enhance connected data to a water utility's operation; water quality monitoring solutions, including optical sensing and electrochemical instruments; and high frequency pressure and leak detection sensors to aid in burst pipe and leak events; as well as BEACON, a secure cloud-hosted software suite that establishes alerts for specific conditions and allows consumer engagement tools that permit end water customers to view and manage their water usage activity. Its flow instrumentation products are used in water/wastewater, heating, ventilating and air conditioning, and corporate sustainability markets. The company serves water utilities, commercial, and industrial industries; and provides training, project management, technical support, and other collaborative services for customers. It sells its products and software directly, as well as through resellers and representatives. The company was incorporated in 1905 and is based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

About Thermon Group

Thermon Group Holdings, Inc. provides engineered industrial process heating solutions for process industries in the United States and Latin America, Canada, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia-Pacific. It offers heat tracing products, such as electric heat tracing cables, steam heating solutions, controls, monitoring and software, instrumentation, project services, industrial heating and filtration solutions, temporary electrical power distribution and lighting, and other products and services. The company also provides controls, monitoring, and software systems for the control and management of a heat trace system; environmental heating solutions under the Ruffneck, Norsemen, and Catadyne brands; process heating solutions under the Caloritech brand name; filtration solutions under the 3L Filters brand; rail and transit solutions under the Hellfire, Velocity, ArcticSense, and other brand names; and boilers under the Vapor Power, Precision Boilers, and Caloritech brands. In addition, it offers project services; transportation heating products, including track and switch heaters, accessories, control panels, rail heaters, gas blower accessories, and air curtains; transit heaters; and velocity heat products. Further, the company offers temporary power solutions; heating systems, such as engineered electric heat, explosion proof gas catalytic heaters, heaters for harshest environments, methane abatement, and engineered filtration system; electrically, steam, and fluid heated tubing bundles; and pre-insulated tubing and system accessories tubing bundles. It serves chemical and petrochemical, oil and gas, power generation, rail and transit, commercial, energy transition/decarbonization, mining and mineral processing, maritime/shipbuilding, semiconductors, pharmaceutical and biotechnology, food and beverage, data centers, and renewables industries through a network of sales and service professionals, and distributors. Thermon Group Holdings, Inc. was founded in 1954 and is headquartered in Austin, Texas.