Itron Says Grid-Edge Intelligence Is Fueling Its Expanding Utility Opportunity

Key Points

• Itron is shifting beyond smart meters, with growth increasingly centered on grid-edge intelligence, software and services that help utilities manage rising demand, distributed energy resources, EV charging and reliability. DI-enabled endpoints rose about 20% year over year to 18 million, while licensed applications increased roughly 50% to nearly 28 million.
• Itron reported a record opportunity pipeline, particularly among U.S. electric utilities, but cautioned that bookings and revenue conversion depend on utility and regulatory schedules. Its total backlog was $4.4 billion, including more than $1 billion in Outcomes, with application revenue typically following network deployments by nine to 12 months.
• Higher-priced DI products and operational improvements are supporting margins, while Itron is managing memory supply risks through advance purchasing, dual sourcing and inventory buffers. The company also expects its Urbint and Locusview acquisitions to generate $65 million to $70 million in revenue with approximately 70% gross margins.

Itron NASDAQ: ITRI executives said at Oppenheimer’s Annual Technology Conference that the company’s opportunity is increasingly tied to grid-edge intelligence, software and services rather than its historical identity as a smart-meter supplier.

Chief Financial Officer Joan Hooper said Itron’s early advanced metering infrastructure, or AMI 1.0, business primarily helped utilities automate billing processes. Today, she said, the company offers meters, grid-edge intelligence, networks, software analytics and services intended to help utilities address more complex operating challenges.

“It isn't really about the meter anymore,” Hooper said. “It's about the solutions that we can bring to the customer for the problems that they're dealing with.”

Early-stage adoption of grid-edge intelligence

Hooper described adoption of Itron’s distributed intelligence, or DI, technology as being in the “early innings.” At the end of the second quarter, Itron had shipped about 18 million DI-enabled endpoints, representing approximately 20% year-over-year growth. Hooper characterized those endpoints as meters with computing capability attached.

The company also had nearly 28 million licensed applications for DI-enabled endpoints, up about 50% from a year earlier, according to Hooper. However, she said the number of endpoints in use remains a relatively small share of the broader meter base.

New contracts are increasingly incorporating components from Itron’s Networked and Outcomes businesses, along with the ability for utilities to purchase applications, Hooper said. The platform is designed to help utilities manage load growth, coordinate distributed energy resources and electric-vehicle charging, and improve resilience and reliability.

Utilities are facing rising electricity demand from factors including data centers and distributed-energy-resource activity, along with regulatory pressure to maintain affordability, Hooper said. She added that Itron has “never seen the pipeline” of opportunities as large as it is now, with demand concentrated in U.S. electric utilities while gas-related opportunities have also become significant.

Project timing remains utility-specific

Despite the demand pipeline, Hooper said the timing of bookings and revenue conversion can vary substantially by utility and regulator. Utilities may address projects one territory at a time rather than pursuing a large multiyear deployment across all service territories, she said.

That approach could produce smaller bookings that move from pipeline to backlog more quickly and are deployed over one to two years, rather than larger projects that can take four to five years to roll out. Still, Hooper cautioned that outcomes will differ by customer.

Itron does not include awards in backlog until they receive regulatory approval. Hooper noted that bookings received over the next 12 to 18 months would not have a major effect on revenue over the same period, because most revenue contemplated in the company’s second-half guidance was already in backlog.

The company’s Outcomes backlog exceeded $1 billion within total backlog of $4.4 billion, Hooper said. She added that the historical lag between Networked revenue and initial Outcomes revenue remains roughly nine to 12 months, as utilities may wait until endpoints are deployed before activating applications.

Supply chain, pricing and margins

Hooper said Itron is closely monitoring memory pricing, although it is not seeing the same degree of capacity tightness experienced during prior semiconductor constraints. The company began purchasing memory ahead of expected needs late last year and believes it has appropriate buffers in place.

Itron has expanded its use of dual suppliers and uses an integrated sales-and-operations-planning process to align product, procurement and manufacturing teams, Hooper said. She said the company has a strong balance sheet and is prepared to carry additional inventory when necessary to avoid supply limitations.

Unlike several years ago, Itron’s current contracts generally include pricing escalators based on indices such as the producer price index, according to Hooper. Memory is a relatively small portion of the company’s bill of materials, she said.

Hooper did not disclose a gross-margin comparison between legacy AMI endpoints and DI-enabled endpoints, but said average selling prices have increased from roughly $80 to $90 for older endpoints to approximately $120 to $140 for DI-enabled products. She also attributed margin improvement to better factory utilization, a factory closure, leaner overhead, improved supply-chain resilience and pricing changes.

Resiliency acquisitions and capital allocation

Itron’s Resiliency Solutions segment includes the Urbint and Locusview acquisitions. Hooper said Urbint, acquired in late 2025, has been substantially integrated. Its software-as-a-service platform focuses on emergency preparedness and response, damage prevention and worker safety.

Locusview, acquired at the beginning of 2026, provides digital construction-management capabilities for utilities. Integration work, including the migration of Locusview’s enterprise resource planning system and other internal tools to Itron’s systems, is expected to be completed by early 2027.

Hooper said Itron continues to expect the two businesses to generate $65 million to $70 million in revenue with 70% gross margins. The company expects the operations to contribute to earnings per share by the end of the year and into next year, while net accretion after lost interest income on the cash used is expected by 2028.

Joel Vach, Itron’s vice president of tax and treasury, said the company continues to invest heavily in internal development, with more than 9% of revenue devoted to research and development. For acquisitions, he said Itron is focused primarily on software assets that expand Outcomes and Resiliency Solutions, complement its platform and offer cross-selling potential.

Vach said Itron had $745 million in cash, leverage of 2.3 times and approximately $1.5 billion in liquidity. The company generally expects acquisitions to become accretive within two to three years and does not pursue transactions solely to add revenue.

About Itron (NASDAQ:ITRI)

Itron, Inc NASDAQ: ITRI is a global technology company that develops innovative solutions to measure, manage and analyze the use of energy and water. Its comprehensive portfolio includes smart meters, data collection devices, communication networks and advanced software applications designed to optimize utility operations and foster sustainable resource management. The company's offerings enable utilities and cities to accurately monitor consumption patterns, streamline billing processes and improve grid reliability.

Itron's product lineup spans a range of hardware and software solutions, from residential and commercial smart meters to meter data management systems (MDMS), networked communication platforms and analytics tools.

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