Waste Management (WM) Dips More Than Broader Markets: What You Should Know

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) closed the most recent trading day at $115.84, moving -0.19% from the previous trading session. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.13%. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.13%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.24%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the garbage and recycling hauler had gained 5.9% over the past month. This has lagged the Business Services sector's gain of 5.99% and outpaced the S&P 500's gain of 4.13% in that time.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from WM as it approaches its next earnings report date. In that report, analysts expect WM to post earnings of $1.08 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 6.93%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $3.94 billion, up 5.33% from the prior-year quarter.

WM's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $4.30 per share and revenue of $15.62 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +2.38% and +4.75%, respectively.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for WM. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.35% lower. WM currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

In terms of valuation, WM is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 26.98. This represents a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 28.02.

It is also worth noting that WM currently has a PEG ratio of 3.15. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. WM's industry had an average PEG ratio of 3 as of yesterday's close.

The Waste Removal Services industry is part of the Business Services sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 101, which puts it in the top 40% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.