Founded in the late 19th-century as an industrial manufacturer of engineered products, the company has spent the past two decades systematically moving away from cyclical manufacturing toward owning software and technology-enabled platforms embedded in customers' daily operations. Today, many of Roper's businesses function more like software franchises than industrial suppliers, providing tools tied to compliance, data management, and core workflows that are difficult to replace once installed.
Over the past three years alone, Roper has deployed approximately $10 billion into acquisitions, including about $3.75 billion for Frontline in 2022, a leading SaaS provider for K-12 school administration, roughly $1.6 billion for Transact Campus in 2024 to strengthen its position in campus payments and integrated technology solutions, and additional investments in early childhood education payment processing and bolt-on acquisitions totaling more than $1.3 billion. In parallel, Roper has intentionally exited lower-growth, cyclical industrial operations, most notably divesting a majority stake in its historical Process Technologies and Measurement & Analytical Solutions businesses in 2022 and earlier selling TransCore, Zetec, and CIVCO Radiotherapy.
Application Software is the core of Roper’s portfolio - in Q3 2025, the segment generated $1.16 billion of revenue, accounting for more than half of group sales, with a gross margin of 69% and an operating margin of roughly 28%. Growth is driven primarily by retention, pricing, payments penetration, and incremental module adoption. The businesses in this segment - such as Frontline, Deltek, Vertafore, Procare, Strata, and Transact/CBORD - sell system-of-record software into education, healthcare, insurance, and government-adjacent markets where workflows are highly regulated and switching costs are high.
Network Software is smaller in absolute revenue but structurally Roper’s most profitable segment. In Q3 2025, it generated $413 million of revenue, while delivering an exceptionally high gross margin of nearly 84% and an operating margin above 43%. Assets such as DAT, ConstructConnect, iPipeline, and iTradeNetwork operate data-rich marketplaces and networks where value increases with scale and participation. It benefits from strong network effects, low marginal costs, and pricing power tied to access and transaction volumes rather than seat-based licenses.
Technology Enabled Products is Roper’s most hardware-facing segment; in Q3 2025, the segment produced $443 million of revenue, with a gross margin of about 58% and an operating margin close to 34%, both well above typical industrial benchmarks. Companies such as Neptune, Verathon, rf IDEAS, and CIVCO combine proprietary devices with software, data, and recurring service components, particularly in healthcare and utility infrastructure.
In Q3 2025, total revenue was about $2.02 billion, of which roughly $1.59 billion came from software. Within that software revenue, about $1.39 billion was recurring or reoccurring in nature, while only around $200 million was non-recurring. Gross profit was approximately $1.40 billion, implying a gross margin close to 70%, while segment operating profit margin was just over 32% before corporate costs. EBITDA for the quarter was roughly $810 million, translating into an EBITDA margin of about 40%. In the same time, FCF reached $842 million, up around 17% YoY while capital expenditures were under $40 million and capitalized software spending was about $43 million, compared with more than $1.8 billion of operating cash flow.
Roper’s net sales grew from $5.4 billion in 2022 to $6.2 billion in 2023 and $7.0 billion in 2024, before rising to an estimated $7.9 billion in 2025. Looking forward, revenue is expected to reach approximately $8.6 billion in 2026 and $9.2 billion in 2027. Over the same period, EBITDA increased from $2.17 billion in 2022 to $2.83 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach about $3.14 billion in 2025, with margins remaining close to 40% throughout the period. EBIT followed a similar trajectory, growing from $1.52 billion in 2022 to nearly $2.0 billion in 2024, and is expected to rise to roughly $2.73 billion by 2027, with EBIT margins consistently in the high-20% range.
Net income normalized after an unusually high 2022, standing at $1.38 billion in 2023 and $1.55 billion in 2024, with a modest dip expected in 2025 due to acquisition-related dilution before resuming growth to approximately $1.89 billion by 2027. EPS moved from $12.89 in 2023 to $14.35 in 2024, then accelerating from around $14.0 in 2025 to nearly $18.0 by 2027. ROE declined into the high-single-digit range in 2023–2024 before gradually improving toward 10% by 2027, while ROA increased from roughly 5% in 2022–2024 to the mid-5% range by the end of the forecast period. P/E ratio is declining from elevated levels in 2023–2024 to the low-20s by 2027.
Roper operates in highly fragmented competitive environments where competition tends to be narrow and product-specific. Its competitors include Tyler Technologies and PowerSchool in education software, Guidewire and Applied Systems in insurance platforms, and Trimble or Verisk in data- and network-driven solutions.
Roper’s growth depends heavily on acquisitions, so execution matters: paying too much, integration missteps, or weaker-than-expected performance can quickly weigh on returns. As the business becomes more software-driven, cybersecurity risk and dependence on third-party cloud infrastructure also rise, increasing the importance of system reliability and data protection. Higher leverage makes these issues more consequential in a higher-rate environment, while a large goodwill base leaves earnings exposed if acquisitions disappoint.
Roper has largely completed its transition into a software-led portfolio built around recurring revenue and high margins. Application and Network Software now anchor cash generation and support an acquisition-driven growth model, with far less exposure to cyclical industrial activity. Looking ahead, steady growth through 2027 is expected, supported by resilient margins and strong cash flow, with execution on pricing, integration, and capital deployment remaining the main drivers of long-term returns.
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