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Waste Management (WM) Stock Sinks As Market Gains: What You Should Know

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Waste Management (WM - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $162.10, moving -0.5% from the previous trading session. This change lagged the S&P 500's 0.69% gain on the day. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.43%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, lost 8.94%.

Coming into today, shares of the garbage and recycling hauler had lost 3.36% in the past month. In that same time, the Business Services sector gained 5.38%, while the S&P 500 gained 5.41%.

Waste Management will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect Waste Management to post earnings of $1.53 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 6.25%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $5.22 billion, up 3.8% from the year-ago period.

WM's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $6.03 per share and revenue of $20.65 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +7.87% and +4.81%, respectively.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for Waste Management. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.

The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant within the past month. Waste Management is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that Waste Management has a Forward P/E ratio of 27 right now. This represents a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 19.48.

It is also worth noting that WM currently has a PEG ratio of 2.67. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. Waste Removal Services stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 2.89 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Waste Removal Services industry is part of the Business Services sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 179, which puts it in the bottom 29% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

To follow WM in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.


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