Waste Management (WM) closed at $224.21 in the latest trading session, marking a -1.56% move from the prior day. The stock fell short of the S&P 500, which registered a loss of 0.76% for the day. Meanwhile, the Dow experienced a drop of 1.14%, and the technology-dominated Nasdaq saw a decrease of 0.18%.

Coming into today, shares of the garbage and recycling hauler had gained 0.74% in the past month. In that same time, the Business Services sector lost 9.99%, while the S&P 500 lost 7.29%.

Market participants will be closely following the financial results of Waste Management in its upcoming release. The company is forecasted to report an EPS of $1.69, showcasing a 3.43% downward movement from the corresponding quarter of the prior year. In the meantime, our current consensus estimate forecasts the revenue to be $6.14 billion, indicating a 19.03% growth compared to the corresponding quarter of the prior year.

For the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $7.68 per share and revenue of $25.63 billion, which would represent changes of +6.22% and +16.16%, respectively, from the prior year.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for Waste Management. Such recent modifications usually signify the changing landscape of near-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, ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), possesses a remarkable history of outdoing, externally audited, with #1 stocks returning an average annual gain of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, there's been a 0.35% fall in the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. Currently, Waste Management is carrying a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Looking at valuation, Waste Management is presently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 29.67. This indicates a premium in contrast to its industry's Forward P/E of 26.18.

We can additionally observe that WM currently boasts a PEG ratio of 2.71. The PEG ratio bears resemblance to the frequently used P/E ratio, but this parameter also includes the company's expected earnings growth trajectory. Waste Removal Services stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 2.51 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Waste Removal Services industry is part of the Business Services sector. This industry, currently bearing a Zacks Industry Rank of 129, finds itself in the bottom 49% echelons 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.

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Waste Management, Inc. (WM) : Free Stock Analysis Report

This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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