How much a stock's price changes over time is a significant driver for most investors. Not only can price performance impact your portfolio, but it can help you compare investment results across sectors and industries as well.

Another thing that can drive investing is the fear of missing out, or FOMO. This particularly applies to tech giants and popular consumer-facing stocks.

What if you'd invested in Itron (ITRI) ten years ago? It may not have been easy to hold on to ITRI for all that time, but if you did, how much would your investment be worth today?

Itron's Business In-Depth

With that in mind, let's take a look at Itron's main business drivers.

Founded in 1977 and headquartered in Liberty Lake, WA, Itron Inc is a technology and services company and one of the leading global suppliers of a wide range of standard, advanced, and smart meters and meter communication systems, including networks and communication modules, software, devices, sensors, data analytics and services to the utility and municipal sectors.

Itron solutions (technology, software, and services) are delivered to users as part of a standalone, one-time purchase or end-to-end solution over multiple years.

The company generates revenues from three operating segments namely Device Solutions, Networked Solutions and Outcomes. Itron’s total revenues for 2023 came in $2.174 billion.

Device Solutions (19.5% of 2024 revenues) include the offerings of standard gas meters, electricity meters, water meters and communicating meters. These are used for measurement, sensing and control purpose.

Networked Solutions (67.6% of 2024 revenues) comprises products and software used for the implementation, installation, and management of communicating devices and data networks. The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) solutions supported by this particular segment include advanced metering infrastructure (AMI), automated meter reading (AMR), distributed energy resource management (DERMs), smart grid and distribution automation and several smart city applications (like smart parking, traffic management, air quality monitoring, electric vehicle charging, digital signage, and mitigation for both gas and water systems).

Outcomes (12.9% of 2024 revenues) segment includes value-added, enhanced software and services.  These are used to manage, organize, analyze, and interpret raw and aggregated data to improve decision making, boost operational and resource efficiency along with improvement in grid analytics and deliver improved actionable insights for consumers, utilities, and smart cities.

Itron operates in a competitive space with its primary competitors Landis+Gyr, LM Ericsson Telephone Company,  Mueller Water Products, and Xylem, Inc. (formerly Sensus).

Bottom Line

Anyone can invest, but building a successful investment portfolio takes a combination of a few things: research, patience, and a little bit of risk. So, if you had invested in Itron a decade ago, you're probably feeling pretty good about your investment today.

A $1000 investment made in March 2015 would be worth $2,852.84, or a gain of 185.28%, as of March 13, 2025, according to our calculations. This return excludes dividends but includes price appreciation.

In comparison, the S&P 500 gained 171.03% and the price of gold went up 143.80% over the same time frame.

Looking ahead, analysts are expecting more upside for ITRI. Itron’s fourth-quarter performance was led by strength across its Networked Solutions and Outcomes units, along with the continued adoption of its grid edge intelligence platform. Revenues in the Outcomes unit soared 25% year over year backed by higher software and services sales. Steady growth in the Networked Solutions business, buoyed by fresh project deployments and operational efficiencies, was a plus. Quarterly bookings reached $1.4 billion, fueled by healthy pipeline activities. Driven by stable market demand and favorable bookings to revenue schedule, it expects revenues in the $2.4-$2.5 billion band for 2025 and $610-$620 million for the first quarter, up 2% year over year at the midpoint. However, Device Solutions sales fell 4% due to softness across legacy electricity products. High debt burden and operating costs are woes. The stock has jumped 5.50% over the past four weeks. Additionally, no earnings estimate has gone lower in the past two months, compared to 7 higher, for fiscal 2025; the consensus estimate has moved up as well.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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