Is the business good?
How good a business is WM?
Waste Management earns 11% on the capital it employs against a 9.0% cost of capital, so the business is worth more the bigger it gets.
11%
Return on invested capital · cost of capital 9.0% · 1.9 points above what the capital costs: growth creates value
- Operating margin
- 18%
Operating margin · Industrials median 10% · 12 months to Q2 2026
- Cash conversion
- 1.25×
Cash conversion · 0.80× a year ago · every dollar of reported profit arrived as cash, and more
- Share count, year on year
- −0.47%
Share count, year on year · flat: no meaningful dilution
| Year | Operating margin |
|---|---|
| FY2020 | 16% |
| FY2021 | 17% |
| FY2022 | 17% |
| FY2023 | 18% |
| FY2024 | 18% |
| FY2025 | 17% |
Details›
- Gross margin12 months to Q2 2026
- 41%
- Operating margin12 months to Q2 2026
- 18%
- Net margin12 months to Q2 2026
- 11%
- Free cash flow margin
- 14%
- Revenue, trailing twelve months
- $25.7B
- Free cash flow, trailing twelve months
- $3.57B
- Net income, trailing twelve months
- $2.85B
- Return on invested capitaloperating profit after tax ÷ debt + equity − cash
- 11%
Margins, capital and share counts from the statements as filed with the SEC; cash conversion from the cash flow statement.
Industrials
Ranks #106 of 332 by Smart Score