Waste Management (WM) Q2 Earnings In Line, Revenues Lag

WM

Waste Management, Inc. (WM - Free Report) reported second-quarter 2018 earnings per share of $1.01 (on an adjusted basis) which met the Zacks Consensus Estimate. Earnings increased 24.7% on a year-over-year basis.

How Was the Estimate Revision Trend?

Investors should note that the earnings estimate revisions for Waste Management depicted a pessimistic picture prior to the earnings release. The stock had seen the Zacks Consensus Estimate for second-quarter 2018 earnings move down 0.9% over the last 60 days.

However, the company has an impressive earnings history having outperformed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the last four quarters with an average beat of 3.6%.

Revenues Lower Than Expected

Waste Management recorded revenues of $3,739 million which underperformed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3,774 million. However, revenues compared favorably with the year-ago figure of $3,677 million.

Key Stats to Note: In the second quarter of 2018, free cash flow was $621 million compared with $520 million in the prior-year quarter. The company paid $200 million of dividends and $300 million to repurchase shares in the reported quarter. Further, the company spent $21 million on acquisitions of traditional solid waste businesses in the reported quarter.

Zacks Rank: Currently, Waste Management has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) but that could change following the company’s earnings report which was just released. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.  

Check back later for our full write up on this Waste Management earnings report later!

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