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Here's Why Investors Can Consider Buying Waste Management Stock Now

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Key Takeaways

  • WM benefits from its waste, recycling and disposal assets plus landfill gas-to-renewable energy projects.
  • WM focuses on pricing, cost control and technology to protect margins and improve service reliability.
  • WM raised dividends from $1.1B in 2023 to $1.3B in 2025. Its shares gained 5.2% over the past month.

Waste Management (WM - Free Report) benefits from its robust waste collection, recycling and disposal infrastructure, supporting sustainable long-term growth while building competitive advantages. The company is converting landfill gas into renewable energy by integrating modern technology and process improvements.

WM is focused on pricing and cost control to maintain healthy profit margins. It ensures that price adjustments are aligned with the quality and reliability of its services by optimizing routes, improving service delivery and operational processes.

Despite fluctuating economic conditions, the company is carefully eliminating unnecessary costs to boost margin protection. The integration of modern technology, recent acquisitions and process improvements lowers costs, boosts service reliability, expands market reach and enhances customer satisfaction.

WM has demonstrated a strong commitment to its shareholders through consistent dividend payments. It paid dividends of $1.1 billion, $1.2 billion and $1.3 billion in 2023, 2024 and 2025, respectively. This consistency has persisted despite fluctuations in the company’s cash position, underscoring its dedication to creating long-term value for investors. Partly due to this shareholder-friendly policy, the stock has gained 5.2% over the past month.

Other Factors That Make WM an Attractive Pick

Solid Rank: Waste Management currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Our research shows that stocks with a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) or #2 offer attractive investment opportunities for investors. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Positive Earnings Surprise History: WM has an impressive earnings surprise history. The company outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate in two of the last four reported quarters and matched twice, delivering an earnings surprise of 0.6% on average.

Strong Growth Prospects: The Zacks Consensus Estimate for WM’s second-quarter 2026 revenues is pegged at $6.69 billion, indicating a 4% increase from the year-ago quarter. For fiscal 2026, the consensus estimate is $26.5 billion, indicating a 5.1% year-over-year growth.

The consensus estimate for second-quarter earnings is pegged at $2.01 per share, indicating 4.5% year-over-year growth. For the full year, the consensus mark is pegged at $8.15 per share, implying 8.7% growth from the prior year.

Other Stocks to Consider

Some other top-ranked stocks in the broader Zacks Business Services sector are Corpay Inc. (CPAY - Free Report)  and Verisk Analytics (VRSK - Free Report) .

Corpay carries a Zacks Rank #2 at present. It has a long-term earnings growth expectation of 14.3%.

CPAY delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 2.5%, on average.

Verisk also holds a Zacks Rank of 2 at present. It has a long-term earnings growth expectation of 11.7%.

VRSK beat earnings estimates in each of the last four quarters, with the earnings surprise being 6.3%, on average.

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