Stocks · Industrials · Waste Management
Waste Management, Inc. WM
$204.45 +1.26% Close, Oct 2, 2026 · NYSE · Market cap $81.72B
High qualityLow risk
Next earnings report: Oct 27, 2026
Scroll or pinch to zoom, drag to move. Daily prices adjusted for splits. Markers: E = earnings (green beat, red miss), S = split, D = dividend.
Three things to know
- The shares trade at 29.0× trailing earnings, lower than 95% of the company's own readings over the past five years.
- Net debt is 3.0× EBITDA, a high level of leverage.
- The stock is in a downtrend: below its 200-day average, with the 50-day average below the 200-day.
PromtFinance scores
Each score is a percentile within the Industrials sector (0–100). Under each score: how the stock ranks in its sector on every component. As of Oct 5, 2026.
Growth49Neutral
How fast revenue, earnings and cash flow are growing.
- Revenue growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 48%
- EPS growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 44%
- FCF growth (TTM, YoY)Top 22%
- Revenue growth, 3-year CAGRTop 34%
- Revenue growth accelerationBottom 12%
Quality84Strong
Returns on capital, margins, earnings quality and balance-sheet strength.
- Return on invested capitalTop 30%
- Gross marginTop 36%
- Operating marginTop 15%
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Top 25%
- Accruals (lower is better)Top 24%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 31%
- Interest coverTop 41%
Value68Positive
How cheap the shares are relative to earnings, cash flow and their own history.
- Earnings yieldTop 37%
- Free-cash-flow yieldTop 37%
- EBITDA / enterprise valueTop 38%
- Sales / enterprise valueBottom 27%
- P/E vs own 5-year history (lower is better)Top 12%
Momentum34Weak
Strength and persistence of the price trend, including versus the S&P 500.
- 12-month return excluding last monthBottom 39%
- 6-month returnBottom 27%
- 1-year return vs S&P 500Bottom 36%
- Distance from 52-week highTop 33%
- Trend checklist (0–4)Bottom 15%
Revisions36Weak
Earnings surprises and analyst sentiment (estimate-revision history is being collected).
- Average EPS surprise, last 4 quartersBottom 37%
- Consecutive EPS beatsTop 45%
- Share of analysts rating BuyBottom 48%
- Upside to consensus price targetBottom 31%
Stability95Exceptional
Low volatility, shallow drawdowns, low market sensitivity and modest leverage.
- Volatility, 60 days (lower is better)Top 3%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 yearsTop 1%
- Beta vs S&P 500 (lower is better)Top 2%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 31%
What changed
Latest four quarters versus the same period a year earlier (growth: versus one quarter earlier).
| Measure | Before | Now | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (YoY) | 10.9% | 7.2% | ↓ |
| EPS growth (YoY) | 4.2% | 4.7% | ↑ |
| Gross margin | 29.0% | 35.0% | ↑ |
| Operating margin | 17.9% | 18.5% | ↑ |
| FCF margin | 9.0% | 13.9% | ↑ |
Fundamental momentum
| Measure | Now (TTM) | Year / quarter before | Sector rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (TTM, YoY) | 7.2% | 10.9% | ↓ | Bottom 48% |
| EPS growth (TTM, YoY) | 4.7% | 4.2% | ↑ | Bottom 44% |
| Gross margin | 35.0% | 29.0% | ↑ | Top 36% |
| Operating margin | 18.5% | 17.9% | ↑ | Top 15% |
| Net margin | 11.1% | 11.4% | ↓ | — |
| Free-cash-flow margin | 13.9% | 9.0% | ↑ | — |
| Return on invested capital | 9.0% | — | Top 30% | |
| Revenue growth, 3-year CAGR | 8.6% | — | Top 34% |
Quality of earnings and balance sheet
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Above 1× means profits are backed by cash.
- 2.28×
- Accruals (net income − OCF) / assetsLower is better; high accruals can signal weaker earnings quality.
- -7.9%
- Stock-based compensation / revenueA cost to shareholders through dilution.
- 0.0%
- Receivables growth vs revenue growthReceivables growing much faster than sales can be a warning.
- -0.2 pp
- Net debt / EBITDABelow 1× is conservative; above 3× is high leverage.
- 3.03×
- Interest cover (operating income / interest)How many times operating profit covers interest.
- 5.3×
Shareholder returns
- Dividend yield (dividends paid, TTM)
- 1.75%
- Net buyback yield (TTM)
- 1.25%
- Shareholder yield
- 3.00%
- Share count change, 1 year
- -0.2%
- Share count change, 3-year CAGR
- -0.4%
Shareholder yield = dividends + net buybacks over the last four quarters, divided by market cap.
Based on the four quarters through Jun 30, 2026 (filed Jul 29, 2026).
Earnings and expectations
Earnings momentum
- Consecutive EPS beats
- 2
- Beats in the last 8 reports
- 5 of 8
- Average EPS surprise, last 4
- +0.7%
- Average 2-day reaction, last 8
- -0.1%
- Positive 20 days after report
- 4 of 8
Analysts
- Consensus price target
- $244.00
- Target vs current price
- +19.3%
- Analysts with a rating
- 35
- Share rating Buy or Strong Buy
- 57%
- Consensus rating
- Buy
How the stock reacted to recent reports
| Report date | EPS surprise | 2 days | 5 days | 20 days | 60 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 28, 2026 | +2.0% | +0.6% | -4.8% | -4.8% | — |
| Apr 28, 2026 | +3.4% | +0.5% | +0.7% | -4.7% | +4.9% |
| Jan 28, 2026 | -1.0% | +0.1% | -2.7% | -1.4% | +0.6% |
| Oct 27, 2025 | -1.5% | -0.4% | -6.9% | +0.9% | +6.7% |
| Jul 28, 2025 | +1.6% | -0.8% | -0.3% | -1.2% | -6.2% |
| Apr 28, 2025 | +5.0% | +0.3% | +2.5% | +3.7% | -0.1% |
| Jan 29, 2025 | -5.6% | -1.9% | +4.0% | +7.0% | +6.5% |
| Oct 28, 2024 | +3.7% | +0.7% | +3.5% | +8.5% | +1.3% |
Returns from the close before each report. Past reactions do not determine future ones.
Earnings history
| Report date | EPS | Estimate | Surprise | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 28, 2026 | $2.02 | $1.98 | +2.0% | $6.68B |
| Apr 28, 2026 | $1.81 | $1.75 | +3.4% | $6.23B |
| Jan 28, 2026 | $1.93 | $1.95 | -1.0% | $6.31B |
| Oct 27, 2025 | $1.98 | $2.01 | -1.5% | $6.44B |
| Jul 28, 2025 | $1.92 | $1.89 | +1.6% | $6.43B |
| Apr 28, 2025 | $1.67 | $1.59 | +5.0% | $6.02B |
| Jan 29, 2025 | $1.70 | $1.80 | -5.6% | $5.89B |
| Oct 28, 2024 | $1.96 | $1.89 | +3.7% | $5.61B |
Valuation in context
| Multiple | Now | 5-year median | 5-year percentile | Sector rank (cheapness) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P/E (trailing) | 29.0× | 33.3× | 5th | Top 37% |
| P/E (forward) | 25.2× | — | — | — |
| EV / EBITDA | 13.9× | — | — | Top 38% |
| EV / Sales | 4.07× | — | — | Bottom 27% |
| Free-cash-flow yield | 4.37% | — | — | Top 37% |
| Earnings yield | 3.45% | — | — | Top 37% |
P/E over the past five years
Range 28.1× – 39.0× since Jun 30, 2021. Each point: price on the filing date divided by trailing-twelve-month EPS known then.
What moved the stock over the past year
- Price return, 1 year
- -7.0%
- Earnings per share growth (TTM)
- +4.7%
- Change in P/E multiple
- -4.1%
Most of the move came from earnings growth.
Technical state
Trend checklist
- ✗ Price above 20-day average
- ✗ Price above 50-day average
- ✗ Price above 200-day average
- ✗ 50-day average above 200-day
- ✗ MACD histogram positive
Trend quality
- Days above the 50-day average
- 0
- Days above the 200-day average
- 0
- 50-day average slope (20 days)
- -3.8%
- 200-day average slope (20 days)
- -0.1%
- Distance from 50-day average
- -7.0%
- Distance from 200-day average
- -9.1%
- RSI (14)
- 32.4
- Relative volume
- 1.07×
Risk and drawdowns
- Volatility, 60 days (annualized)
- 19.3%
- Volatility vs own 5-year history
- 58th percentile · Normal for this stock
- Beta vs S&P 500 (2 years, weekly)
- -0.02
- Correlation with S&P 500
- -0.02
- Current drawdown from 1-year high
- -17.1%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 years
- -18.7%
Largest declines in the past six years
| From peak | To low | Decline | Length | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 2, 2025 | Nov 3, 2025 | -18.7% | 107 days | 80 days (Mar 2, 2026) |
| Mar 9, 2026 | Oct 1, 2026 | -18.1% | 143 days | Not yet recovered |
| Apr 28, 2022 | Jun 17, 2022 | -17.1% | 35 days | 35 days (Aug 9, 2022) |
| Dec 31, 2021 | Feb 23, 2022 | -15.8% | 36 days | 44 days (Apr 27, 2022) |
| Aug 17, 2022 | Mar 1, 2023 | -15.1% | 134 days | 198 days (Dec 12, 2023) |
Declines of 10% or more from a closing high, measured on daily closes.
Financial statements
- Market cap
- $81.72B
- P/E (TTM)
- 29.0
- EPS, diluted (TTM)
- $7.06
- Revenue (TTM)
- $25.67B
- Dividend yield
- 1.79%
- 52-week range
- $194.11 – $248.13
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $17.93B | $19.70B | $20.43B | $22.06B | $25.20B |
| Gross profit | $4.82B | $5.37B | $5.75B | $6.41B | $7.33B |
| Operating income | $3.01B | $3.44B | $3.82B | $4.15B | $4.61B |
| Net income | $1.82B | $2.24B | $2.30B | $2.75B | $2.71B |
| EPS (diluted) | $4.29 | $5.39 | $5.66 | $6.81 | $6.70 |
| Q3 2024 | Q4 2024 | Q1 2025 | Q2 2025 | Q3 2025 | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 | Q2 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $5.61B | $5.89B | $6.02B | $6.43B | $6.44B | $6.31B | $6.23B | $6.68B |
| Net income | $760.0M | $598.0M | $637.0M | $726.0M | $603.0M | $742.0M | $723.0M | $785.0M |
| EPS (diluted) | $1.88 | $1.48 | $1.58 | $1.80 | $1.49 | $1.83 | $1.79 | $1.95 |
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | $4.34B | $4.54B | $4.72B | $5.39B | $6.04B |
| Capital expenditure | -$1.90B | -$2.59B | -$2.90B | -$3.23B | -$3.23B |
| Free cash flow | $2.43B | $1.95B | $1.82B | $2.16B | $2.82B |
| Dividends paid | -$970.0M | -$1.08B | -$1.14B | -$1.21B | -$1.33B |
| Net share buybacks | -$1.35B | -$1.50B | -$1.30B | -$262.0M | $61.0M |
Cash outflows are shown as negative numbers.
- Cash and short-term investments
- $557.0M
- Total assets
- $46.44B
- Total liabilities
- $36.52B
- Total debt
- $23.36B
- Net debt
- $22.80B
- Shareholders’ equity
- $9.93B
As of Jun 30, 2026 (filed Jul 29, 2026).
Dividends
| Ex-date | Amount | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 11, 2026 | $0.95 | Sep 25, 2026 |
| Jun 5, 2026 | $0.95 | Jun 18, 2026 |
| Mar 13, 2026 | $0.95 | Mar 27, 2026 |
| Dec 5, 2025 | $0.83 | Dec 19, 2025 |
| Sep 12, 2025 | $0.83 | Sep 26, 2025 |
| Jun 6, 2025 | $0.83 | Jun 20, 2025 |
| Mar 14, 2025 | $0.83 | Mar 28, 2025 |
| Dec 6, 2024 | $0.75 | Dec 20, 2024 |
Short interest
- Shares sold short
- 5,766,277
- Days to cover
- 2.58
- Change vs previous report
- -0.4%
FINRA short interest, settlement date Sep 15, 2026.