WMWaste Management
Is the business good?
The checks split: earnings fully cash-backed (1.8×), but returns that lean on debt.
Mixed fundamental signals. Nine pass/fail tests of year-over-year health from the filings.
Operating profit is fully backed by cash. Conversion is improving vs a year ago.
Profits are tracking sales roughly one-for-one, limited operating leverage either way.
Leverage-amplified, a high assets-to-equity ratio does much of the work. ROE 28% = margin × turnover × leverage.
Unless marked, from derived.
Against the whole market›
Percentile against every name Ryufin tracks. Higher is better; the tick marks the middle of the market. Context, not one of the checks above.
Where this answer is blind. The F-score rewards improvement, so an already-elite company can score mid-pack.
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.
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 · Waste Management median 11% · 12 months to Q2 2026
- Cash conversion
- 1.83×
Cash conversion · 1.68× a year ago · operating cash flow covers the operating profit after tax
- 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 is operating cash flow over operating profit after tax.
Waste Management
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