Waste Management (WM) ended the recent trading session at $201.79, demonstrating a -0.24% swing from the preceding day's closing price. The stock's change was more than the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.43%. On the other hand, the Dow registered a loss of 0.07%, and the technology-centric Nasdaq decreased by 0.9%.
Prior to today's trading, shares of the garbage and recycling hauler had lost 10.15% over the past month. This has lagged the Business Services sector's loss of 4.14% and the S&P 500's loss of 1.98% in that time.
Market participants will be closely following the financial results of Waste Management in its upcoming release. The company plans to announce its earnings on January 29, 2025. The company's earnings per share (EPS) are projected to be $1.79, reflecting a 2.87% increase from the same quarter last year. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $5.88 billion, up 12.77% from the year-ago period.
WM's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $7.32 per share and revenue of $22.05 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +18.26% and +7.97%, respectively.
Additionally, investors should keep an eye on any recent revisions to analyst forecasts for Waste Management. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.
Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. To take advantage of this, we've established the Zacks Rank, an exclusive model that considers these estimated changes and delivers an operational rating system.
Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.15% higher within the past month. Waste Management presently features a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
From a valuation perspective, Waste Management is currently exchanging hands at a Forward P/E ratio of 27.64. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 27.64, which means Waste Management is trading at no noticeable deviation to the group.
It's also important to note that WM currently trades at a PEG ratio of 2.24. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. The Waste Removal Services industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 2.55 as of yesterday's close.
The Waste Removal Services industry is part of the Business Services sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 184, putting it in the bottom 27% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
Make sure to utilize Zacks.com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.
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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
