Waste Connections, Inc.
- Open
- 165.76
- Day high
- 166.70
- Day low
- 164.79
- Prev close
- 165.93
- Volume
- 928K
- Mkt cap
- $41.6B
- P/E (TTM)
- 39.9
- EPS (TTM)
- $4.14
- P/B
- 5.3
- P/S
- 4.2
- Yield
- 0.64%
- Per share
- $1.05
- ▼Insiders net selling -$2.8M over the last 3 months (0 open-market buys, 8 sales)
- 🏛Institutions mixed (13F)
Waste Connections, Inc. (WCN) is a Industrials company listed on NYSE. The stock is down 9% over the past year. Over the trailing 3 months, insiders filed 0 open-market buys and 8 sales (SEC Form 4).
Waste Connections, Inc. (WCN) financials & analyst ratings
Fundamentals (TTM)
Analyst consensus · 5 analysts
Source: exchange market data + company filings. Figures are trailing-twelve-month or as most recently reported. For informational purposes only — not investment advice.
WCN earnings date, history & EPS estimates
| Report date | EPS est | EPS actual | Surprise | Revenue | Rev. surprise |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 23, 2026 | $1.35 | $1.50 | +11.0% | $2.5B | +0.9% |
| Apr 23, 2026 | $1.19 | $1.23 | +3.4% | $2.3B | +0.2% |
| Feb 11, 2026 | $1.28 | $1.29 | +0.8% | $2.4B | +2.2% |
| Oct 21, 2025 | $1.38 | $1.44 | +4.3% | $2.5B | +3.7% |
| Jul 23, 2025 | $1.25 | $1.29 | +3.2% | $2.4B | -1.6% |
| Apr 23, 2025 | $1.07 | $1.13 | +5.6% | $2.2B | -7.4% |
| Feb 12, 2025 | $1.20 | $1.16 | -3.3% | $2.3B | +0.8% |
| Oct 23, 2024 | $1.29 | $1.35 | +4.7% | $2.3B | +4.0% |
| Jul 24, 2024 | $1.17 | $1.24 | +6.0% | $2.2B | -1.6% |
| Feb 13, 2024 | $1.08 | $1.11 | +2.8% | $2.1B | +3.0% |
| Oct 25, 2023 | $1.14 | $1.17 | +2.6% | $2.1B | -0.1% |
| Aug 2, 2023 | $1.01 | $1.02 | +1.0% | $2.0B | +0.3% |
WCN insider trading activity (SEC Form 4)
| Date | Insider | Type | Shares | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 21, 2026 | NIELSEN III ROBERTofficer: SR VP Operations | Sell | 700 | $170.00 |
| Aug 20, 2026 | RIVARD PHILIPofficer: SR VP Business Development | Sell | 2,500 | $166.57 |
| Aug 17, 2026 | Netherton Susanofficer: SR VP People, Training & Dev | Sell | 1,750 | $166.00 |
| Jul 31, 2026 | NIELSEN III ROBERTofficer: SR VP Operations | Sell | 300 | $173.10 |
| Jul 30, 2026 | Cloninger Robert Michaelofficer: SR VP, Deputy General Counsel | Sell | 238 | $171.33 |
| Jul 30, 2026 | Cloninger Robert Michaelofficer: SR VP, Deputy General Counsel | Sell | 2,573 | $171.00 |
| Jun 9, 2026 | CRAFT JASONofficer: Executive Vice President & COO | Sell | 1,500 | $156.59 |
| Jun 9, 2026 | Shea Patrick Jamesofficer: Exec VP, General Counsel & Sec | Sell | 7,500 | $156.26 |
| May 18, 2026 | NIELSEN III ROBERTofficer: SR VP Operations | Sell | 500 | $155.56 |
| May 14, 2026 | NIELSEN III ROBERTofficer: SR VP Operations | Sell | 290 | $151.00 |
| May 14, 2026 | NIELSEN III ROBERTofficer: SR VP Operations | Sell | 337 | $153.00 |
| May 13, 2026 | MITTELSTAEDT RONALD Jdirector, officer: President & CEO | Buy | 50,000 | $152.24 |
| May 4, 2026 | HANSEN ERICofficer: Senior Vice President and CIO | Sell | 6,000 | $164.82 |
| Apr 29, 2026 | LITTLE JAMESofficer: Executive VP Engineering | Sell | 2,605 | $163.98 |
| Apr 3, 2026 | FLORNESS DANIEL Ldirector | Grant | 419 | — |
Source: WCN SEC Form 4 filings, latest Aug 21, 2026. For informational purposes only — not investment advice.
See the full WCN insider & 13F page →Waste Connections, Inc. company profile
Overview
Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) is a leading North American waste management company founded in 1997 and headquartered in Woodbridge, Canada. The company went public in 1998 and has grown through a combination of organic expansion and strategic acquisitions to become one of the largest integrated waste services providers in the United States and Canada. Waste Connections operates across the full spectrum of waste management services, from collection and transfer to disposal and resource recovery, serving millions of customers through its extensive network of facilities and operations.
Business
Waste Connections operates in the waste management industry, providing comprehensive non-hazardous waste services across the United States and Canada. The waste management industry is essential infrastructure that handles the collection, transportation, processing, and disposal of solid waste generated by residential, commercial, and industrial customers. The company's operations are divided into several key business segments: 1. Solid Waste Collection Services (approximately 70-75% of revenue): This core business involves collecting waste from residential homes, commercial businesses, municipal contracts, and industrial facilities using specialized collection vehicles. The company operates on regular routes, picking up waste containers and transporting materials to transfer stations or disposal facilities. 2. Landfill Operations (approximately 15-20% of revenue): Waste Connections owns and operates 61 municipal solid waste landfills, 12 exploration and production (E&P) waste landfills, and 14 non-municipal solid waste landfills. These engineered facilities safely dispose of waste materials while capturing methane gas for energy production and maintaining strict environmental compliance. 3. Transfer and Recycling Operations (approximately 8-12% of revenue): The company operates 142 transfer stations that serve as intermediate facilities where waste is consolidated and prepared for transport to final disposal sites. Additionally, 71 recycling operations process recyclable materials including cardboard, paper, plastics, glass, and metals, generating revenue from commodity sales. 4. Exploration and Production (E&P) Waste Services (approximately 3-5% of revenue): This specialized segment handles waste generated from oil and natural gas operations, including drilling fluids, completion fluids, produced water, and contaminated soils. The company operates 23 injection wells and 19 treatment facilities specifically designed for E&P waste streams. 5. Intermodal Services: Through four intermodal operations, the company provides rail transportation services for cargo and solid waste containers, primarily in the Pacific Northwest region.
Revenue model
Waste Connections generates revenue through multiple complementary business models centered around waste services: Primary Revenue Streams: 1. Collection Service Fees: The largest revenue source comes from recurring monthly or periodic fees charged to residential, commercial, and industrial customers for waste collection services. These contracts typically include automatic price escalation clauses tied to inflation indices or fixed annual increases. 2. Disposal Fees: The company charges tipping fees at its landfills for waste disposal, both from its own collection operations and third-party haulers. Landfill disposal generates high-margin revenue due to the scarcity of permitted disposal capacity. 3. Recycling Commodity Sales: Revenue is generated from selling processed recyclable materials including metals, paper, cardboard, and plastics to manufacturers and processors. This revenue stream is subject to commodity price volatility. 4. Specialized E&P Waste Services: Higher-margin services for oil and gas industry waste, including treatment, disposal, and injection well services, typically priced at premium rates due to specialized handling requirements. Customer Base: The company serves a diversified customer base including residential homeowners through municipal contracts, small and large commercial businesses, industrial manufacturers, construction companies, and oil and gas operators. This diversification provides stability as different customer segments have varying economic sensitivities. Margin Enhancement Factors: Factors that increase profitability include route density optimization (more customers per route reduces costs), successful price increases above inflation, higher-margin special waste volumes, rising commodity prices for recyclables, and operational efficiency improvements through technology adoption. The company benefits from the essential nature of waste services, which provides pricing power and recession resilience. Margin Pressure Factors: Margin pressures arise from labor cost inflation (the largest cost component), fuel price increases, regulatory compliance costs, commodity price volatility for recyclables, competitive pricing pressure in certain markets, and the need for ongoing capital investment in trucks, equipment, and facility maintenance. Weather events and economic downturns can also reduce waste volumes and special waste activity.
Competitive moat
Waste Connections possesses a strong economic moat built on several sustainable competitive advantages inherent to the waste management industry: Regulatory Barriers: The waste industry faces significant regulatory barriers to entry, with landfill permits taking years to obtain and requiring substantial environmental compliance investments. Existing permitted disposal capacity is scarce and difficult to replicate, creating a protective barrier around the company's landfill assets. Route Density and Geographic Clustering: The company's strategy of building dense route networks in specific geographic markets creates significant cost advantages. Once established in a market, competitors face difficulty matching the efficiency of concentrated operations, as waste collection is fundamentally a local business with high transportation costs. Customer Switching Costs: While individual contracts may not have high switching costs, the operational complexity of coordinating waste services, established relationships, and the relatively small portion of total customer costs that waste represents create practical switching barriers. Scale Advantages: Large operators like Waste Connections benefit from purchasing power for equipment and supplies, ability to invest in technology and specialized assets, and operational expertise that smaller competitors cannot match. Potential Competitive Threats: The primary competitive risks come from other large national waste companies (Waste Management, Republic Services) competing for acquisitions and large municipal contracts. Municipal governments occasionally consider bringing waste services in-house, though this trend has generally reversed due to complexity and cost considerations. New environmental regulations, while creating compliance costs, often favor larger operators with greater resources and technical capabilities, potentially strengthening rather than weakening the moat over time.
Risks & safety
Waste Connections demonstrates a moderate to strong margin of safety with solid financial fundamentals but some leverage concerns: Liquidity and Solvency: • Cash and short-term investments: $111 million (Q1 2025) • Current ratio: 0.70 (below 1.0 indicates potential short-term liquidity pressure) • Debt-to-equity ratio: 1.09 (moderate leverage) • Debt-to-EBITDA: 2.3x (manageable for utility-like business) • Strong operating cash flow: $541 million (Q1 2025) • Free cash flow: $329 million (Q1 2025) Valuation Metrics: • P/E ratio: 52.2x (elevated, reflecting growth expectations) • EV/EBITDA: 21.6x (reasonable for quality infrastructure business) • Price-to-book: 6.3x (reflects asset quality and growth investments) Other Considerations: • Moody's recent upgrade to A3 rating reflects improving credit profile • Recession-resistant business model with essential services • Consistent dividend growth (11.8% increase in 2023) • Strong acquisition pipeline providing growth opportunities • Potential regulatory risks from environmental compliance costs
Recent development
Over the past few years, Waste Connections has executed several key strategic initiatives that position the company for long-term growth: Aggressive Acquisition Strategy: The company has significantly accelerated its acquisition program, completing $750 million in annualized revenue acquisitions in 2024 alone, including the strategic acquisition of Royal Waste Services in New York City. This represents a major expansion into one of the most attractive waste markets in North America, with the company winning rights to compete in 12 commercial zones in the NYC franchise system. Renewable Natural Gas (RNG) Development: Waste Connections has committed substantial capital to developing RNG facilities at its landfills, with management targeting $200 million in incremental EBITDA contribution by 2026. This initiative transforms waste methane emissions into valuable renewable energy, providing both environmental benefits and significant revenue upside. Operational Excellence Focus: The company has made remarkable progress in employee retention, reducing voluntary turnover from over 20% in 2022 to under 13% by 2024. This improvement has reduced overtime costs, third-party service reliance, and improved safety metrics, with some safety incident categories declining by up to 40%. Technology and Sustainability Investments: The company is investing in AI and robotics for recycling operations, electric vehicle fleets in select urban markets, and PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) treatment technologies. These investments position Waste Connections to capitalize on evolving environmental regulations and customer demands for sustainable solutions. Geographic Expansion: Beyond the NYC expansion, the company has strengthened its presence in Western Canada through the acquisition of Secure Energy's E&P waste assets and continued to build density in existing markets through targeted acquisitions.
WCN company profile · for informational purposes only — not investment advice.
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