Is the business good?
How good a business is WCN?
Waste Connections, Inc. earns 7.8% on the capital it employs against a 9.0% cost of capital, so growth costs more than it returns.
7.8%
Return on invested capital · cost of capital 9.0% · 1.2 points below what the capital costs: growth destroys value
- Operating margin
- 18%
Operating margin · Industrials median 10% · 12 months to Q1 2026
- Cash conversion
- 1.09×
Cash conversion · 1.88× a year ago · every dollar of reported profit arrived as cash, and more
- Share count, year on year
- −1.2%
Share count, year on year · bought back, each share owns more of the company
| Year | Operating margin |
|---|---|
| FY2020 | 7.6% |
| FY2021 | 17% |
| FY2022 | 17% |
| FY2023 | 15% |
| FY2024 | 12% |
| FY2025 | 18% |
Details›
- Gross margin12 months to Q1 2026
- 43%
- Operating margin12 months to Q1 2026
- 18%
- Net margin12 months to Q1 2026
- 11%
- Free cash flow margin
- 12%
- Revenue, trailing twelve months
- $9.61B
- Free cash flow, trailing twelve months
- $1.15B
- Net income, trailing twelve months
- $1.05B
- Return on invested capitaloperating profit after tax ÷ debt + equity − cash
- 7.8%
Margins, capital and share counts from the statements as filed with the SEC; cash conversion from the cash flow statement.
Industrials
Ranks #165 of 332 by Smart Score