Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Here's Why You Should Invest in Waste Management (WM) Stock

Read MoreHide Full Article

Waste Management, Inc. (WM - Free Report) is currently a well-performing stock in the Waste Removal Services space with a significant rise in share price over the past year and strong fundamentals. Therefore, if you haven’t taken advantage of the price appreciation yet, it’s time you add the stock to your portfolio as we believe that it has the potential to carry the momentum in the near term.

Why an Attractive Pick?

Share Price Appreciation: A glimpse of the company’s price trend reveals that the stock has had an impressive run over the past year. Waste Management returned 13.7%, which compared favorably with the 18.9% decline in the industry it belongs to and the Zacks S&P 500 composite’s 8.6% fall.

Solid Rank & VGM Score: Waste Management currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) and has a VGM Score of B. Our research shows that stocks with a VGM Score of A or B, when combined with a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) or #2, offer the best investment opportunities. Thus, the company appears to be a compelling investment proposition at the moment. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Northward Estimate Revisions: Nine estimates for 2022 moved north over the past 60 days versus no southward revisions, reflecting analysts’ confidence in the company. Over the same period, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2022 increased 2.7%.

Strong Growth Prospects: The company has an expected long-term earnings per share (three to five years) growth rate of 11.8%. Its earnings for 2022 and 2023 are expected to improve 17.8% and 12.9%, respectively, year over year.

Positive Earnings Surprise History: Waste Management has an impressive earnings surprise history. The company outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the trailing four quarters and missed once, delivering a positive average earnings surprise of 4.2%.

Growth Drivers: Being a leading provider of comprehensive waste management environmental services, WM is expected to continue benefiting from ongoing trends like increasing environmental concerns, rapid industrialization, increase in population and active government measures to reduce illegal dumping.The company’s top line increased 12.3% year over year in the second quarter of 2022.

Waste Management continues to execute core operating initiatives targeting focused differentiation and continuous improvement and instilling price and cost discipline to achieve better margins. While differentiation through capitalization of extensive assets ensures long-term profitable growth and competitive advantages, cost control, process improvement and enhancements to its digital platform help enhance service quality.

Other Stocks to Consider

Some other top-ranked stocks in the broader Zacks Business Services sector are Avis Budget Group, Inc. (CAR - Free Report) , Genpact Limited (G - Free Report)  and H&R Block, Inc. (HRB - Free Report) .

Avis Budget sports a Zacks Rank #1 at present. CAR has an earnings growth rate of 108.4% for 2022.

Avis Budget delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 69.5%, on average.  

Genpact carries a Zacks Rank #2 at present. G has a long-term earnings growth expectation of 12.1%.

Genpact delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 10.1%, on average.  

H&R Block currently flaunts a Zacks Rank of 1. HRB has a long-term earnings growth expectation of 12.5%.

HRB delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 19.2%, on average.

Published in