Waste Management (WM) Stock Moves -1.78%: What You Should Know

In the latest trading session, Waste Management (NYSE:WM) closed at $98.07, marking a -1.78% move from the previous day. This move was narrower than the S&P 500's daily loss of 4.34%. Elsewhere, the Dow lost 4.55%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 3.79%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the garbage and recycling hauler had lost 19.51% over the past month. This has was narrower than the Business Services sector's loss of 31.71% and the S&P 500's loss of 28.78% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from WM as it approaches its next earnings release. The company is expected to report EPS of $1, up 6.38% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $3.78 billion, up 2.32% from the prior-year quarter.

WM's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $4.60 per share and revenue of $16.20 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +4.55% and +4.83%, respectively.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for WM. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.

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. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant within the past month. WM currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Looking at its valuation, WM is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 21.71. This represents a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 21.36.

Meanwhile, WM's PEG ratio is currently 2.56. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. Waste Removal Services stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 2.67 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Waste Removal Services industry is part of the Business Services sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 108, which puts it in the top 43% 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.

Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.