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WMWM

Waste Management, Inc.

$WM·$90B·Waste Management·Industrials
$224.55+0.2%1Y-0.7%
Mentions · last 7 days
2026-08-07: 9 posts2026-08-08: 7 posts2026-08-09: 1 posts2026-08-10: 8 posts2026-08-11: 7 posts2026-08-12: 6 posts2026-08-13: 9 posts48
Price updated 1d ago·X counts updated 2d ago
WMWM
$WMWaste Management, Inc.
$224.55+0.15%48 posts
AI analysisFundamentalsVoices on X
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AI verdict & sentimentAI analysisGenerated by AI from underlying data

Today's AI verdict on what's driving $WM, plus how loud the X conversation is and which way it's leaning.

AI analysis

TickerTalks’ read on the fundamentals and what’s driving the move.

Proven numbersStalledAI verdict · as of 2026-08-15

The move has stalled — likely just drifts unless something new shows up.

North American waste-services franchise trading flat as margin gains offset softer volumes — the toll-booth compounder is toll-booth-compounding.

Waste Management is the largest waste-services provider in North America — collection, recycling, and landfill infrastructure — a genuine toll-booth business with pricing power that has compounded through most economic cycles. The stock is essentially flat over the last twelve months, held in place by margin gains on one side and softer volumes on the other.

Where it stands:

  • The core earnings kept beating — Q2 EPS of $2.02 beat $1.98 by 2%, Q1 EPS of $1.81 beat $1.75 by 3%, revenue grew 4% year-over-year, and 19% operating margin plus 35% gross margin confirm the pricing-power model still works even when hauled-tonnage growth is single-digit.
  • The 2026 outlook is the current debate — coverage this week specifically framed 'WM's 2026 Outlook Tests Whether Margin Gains Can Offset Softer Volumes,' which captures the tension: margin expansion from disciplined pricing and route-density plus the WM Recycle America transition is a real EPS lever, but if volumes keep softening the top-line growth turns into a headwind analysts eventually respect.
  • Valuation is priced for the compounder outcome — 32x trailing earnings and 15x EV/EBITDA on 4% revenue growth means the multiple already assumes the margin story works, so any price/cost pressure in the guide would compress rather than expand it.

Q3 earnings Oct 26 is the next read — same-store volumes holding flat or slightly better plus continued margin expansion validates the compounder-at-a-premium framing; a soft volume print with recycling-price weakness and the 32x multiple compresses toward the 25-28x historical band.

What to watch: Q3 earnings Oct 26 — a print with same-store volumes holding flat or slightly better plus continued margin expansion validates the compounder-at-a-premium framing; a soft volume print with recycling-price weakness and the 32x multiple compresses toward the 25-28x historical band.

On the calendar: 2026-10-26 — Q3 earnings

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What it does

Plain-English summary of the business — what they sell and how they make money.

Waste Management, Inc. (WM) functions as a premier provider of environmental waste solutions across North America, serving a diverse client base that includes residential, commercial, industrial, and municipal customers. The company's core operations involve comprehensive collection services, which include gathering and transporting both waste materials and recyclables from their initial point of generation to designated transfer stations, material recovery facilities (MRFs), or final disposal sites. Waste Management maintains an extensive network of facilities, owning, developing, and operating landfill gas-to-energy plants within the United States, in addition to managing numerous transfer stations. As of December 31, 2021, its substantial infrastructure consisted of 255 solid waste landfills, 5 secure hazardous waste landfills, 96 material recovery facilities, and 340 transfer stations. Beyond primary collection and disposal, WM offers services in materials processing and commodities recycling. This extends to recycling brokerage, where they handle the marketing of recyclable goods for third-party entities, alongside providing various other strategic business solutions. Its service portfolio also encompasses construction and remediation projects, the responsible management of fly ash and other residues generated from coal and fuel combustion, and specialized in-plant services offering full-spectrum waste management consulting. Furthermore, the company delivers tailored disposal solutions for oil and gas exploration and production activities. Originally incorporated in 1987 as USA Waste Services, Inc., the company rebranded to Waste Management, Inc. in 1998. Its corporate headquarters are situated in Houston, Texas.

Industry overviewAI analysisGenerated by AI from underlying data

Where Waste Management sits in its cycle right now — and what that implies for $WM.

Waste Management · Industrials

Top industry ETF

$XLIIndustrial Select Sector SPDR
+19.8%YTD
+23.4%1Y

Fundamentals & catalyst

Profitability, valuation, and the next earnings event — at a glance, with rule-of-thumb signals.

Key ratios

P/E
31.6How much investors are paying per dollar of profit the company actually earned in the last 12 months. Lower means the stock looks cheaper relative to earnings.~15–25 is typical for the S&P 500; high-growth names trade 30+; hyper-growth or speculative can be 100+ or negative.
ROIC
9.0%What percentage return the business earns on every dollar of capital (equity + debt) deployed in operations. The cleanest measure of business quality.Above ~15% is high-quality; consistently above 25% suggests a real moat. Below the company's cost of capital is value-destroying.
Op margin
18.5%Operating profit (after sales, marketing, R&D, and overhead but before interest and taxes) as a percentage of revenue. The clearest view of how well the underlying business is run.Mature business above 20% is healthy; software businesses can run 30%+; commodity / retail businesses operate in single digits.
FCF yield
4.0%Free cash flow (operating cash flow minus capex) divided by the company's market cap. The cash-on-cash return you'd get owning the whole business at today's price.Above ~5% is attractive; below ~2% means you're paying up for growth. Capital-light businesses (software) run higher than capital-heavy ones (utilities).
P/S
3.5Same idea as P/E but per dollar of revenue. Useful for companies that aren't profitable yet, where P/E is meaningless.Under ~2 is cheap; software / SaaS often runs 8–15; well above 20 implies the market is pricing in very high future growth.
ROE
28.9%Net income as a percentage of shareholders' equity. Similar to ROIC but counts only the equity side.Above 20% is strong, but can be inflated by leverage — a heavily indebted company can show high ROE with weak underlying ROIC.
Gross margin
35.0%Revenue minus the direct cost of producing what was sold, as a percentage of revenue. The first read on whether the product is structurally profitable.Software / SaaS is typically 70%+; consumer goods 30–50%; commodity / hardware businesses can be under 20%.
D/E
2.4Total debt divided by shareholders' equity. Measures how much the business runs on borrowed money versus owner capital.Under 1 is conservative; 1–2 is typical for mature businesses; over 2 is leveraged and more sensitive to interest rates.

Past earnings

QuarterReportedActualEstimateSurprise
Q2 2026Jul 28, 2026$2.02$1.98+2.0%
Q1 2026Apr 28, 2026$1.81$1.75+3.4%
Q4 2025Jan 28, 2026$1.93$1.95-1.0%
Q3 2025Oct 27, 2025$1.98$2.01-1.5%
Next earningsMon, Oct 26·consensus EPS $2.18

Quarterly trend

QuarterRevenueYoYGrossOpEPSFCF
Q2 FY26$6.7B+4.0%40.8%18.7%$1.96$1.1B
Q1 FY26$6.2B+3.5%40.7%17.9%$1.79$851.0M
Q4 FY25$6.3B+7.1%29.3%18.6%$1.84$810.0M
Q3 FY25$6.4B+14.9%29.2%18.9%$1.50$816.0M

Forward consensus

5-year forecast · up to 20 analysts
FYRevenueRangeEPSRangeAnalysts
FY26$26.4B$26.2B – $26.5B$8.12$7.98 – $8.4718
FY27$27.8B$27.5B – $28.1B$9.08$8.62 – $9.6120
FY28$29.1B$28.3B – $29.8B$9.90$9.30 – $10.8517
FY29$31.0B$30.7B – $31.4B$10.95$10.78 – $11.1313
FY30$32.3B$31.9B – $32.7B$11.69$11.52 – $11.898

Setup & momentum

Volume, range, and moving-average position — the technical setup driving short-term moves.

Right now

Vol vs 30dToday's traded share volume divided by the average over the prior 30 trading days. ≥3× signals unusual interest; below 1× is quiet.0.8×Today's traded share volume divided by the average over the prior 30 trading days. ≥3× signals unusual interest; below 1× is quiet.
52w rangeWhere the latest close sits between the 52-week low (0%) and high (100%). Above 80% is extended; below 30% is basing or in a downtrend.56%Where the latest close sits between the 52-week low (0%) and high (100%). Above 80% is extended; below 30% is basing or in a downtrend.
vs 50d MALatest close vs the 50-day simple moving average. Positive = short-term trend is up.-1.3%Latest close vs the 50-day simple moving average. Positive = short-term trend is up.
vs 200d MALatest close vs the 200-day simple moving average. Positive = long-term trend is up.+0.4%Latest close vs the 200-day simple moving average. Positive = long-term trend is up.

Float & profile

FloatHigh float · 398.8M shFree-float shares — the slice of issued stock actually available to trade. Lower buckets squeeze harder on a catalyst.Traded today0.4% of floatToday's volume as a percent of the free float. Above 5% on a single day is unusually high turnover for the available share count.β0.455-year weekly beta vs the S&P 500. Above 1.5 means the stock typically moves more than the index; below 0.8 moves less.

Recent news

Latest headlines from major outlets, sourced and timestamped — context for whatever just moved.

Bill Gates's Top Second Quarter 2026 Move: Trims Berkshire Hathaway Inc at a -3.57% Portfolio Impactgurufocus.com·1d agoIs WM Stock Worth Buying as Margins Rise but Valuation Stays Rich?zacks.com·2d agoWM's 2026 Outlook Tests Whether Margin Gains Can Offset Softer Volumeszacks.com·2d agoHere's Why Investors Must Hold WM Stock in Their Portfolios Nowzacks.com·2d agoE. Ohman J or Asset Management AB Sells 3,000 Shares of Waste Management, Inc. $WMdefenseworld.net·4d ago

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Voices on X · last 7 days

No standout posts about $WM on X in the last 7 days.

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