Waste Management (WM) closed the most recent trading day at $230.39, moving +0.19% from the previous trading session. The stock lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.12%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 1.14%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 1.46%.

Coming into today, shares of the garbage and recycling hauler had gained 3.52% in the past month. In that same time, the Business Services sector lost 3.31%, while the S&P 500 lost 4.13%.

The investment community will be paying close attention to the earnings performance of Waste Management in its upcoming release. The company is predicted to post an EPS of $1.69, indicating a 3.43% decline compared to the equivalent quarter last 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 entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $7.68 per share and a revenue of $25.63 billion, representing changes of +6.22% and +16.16%, respectively, from the prior year.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for Waste Management. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. Consequently, upward revisions in estimates express analysts' positivity towards the company's business operations and its ability to generate profits.

Our research reveals that these estimate alterations are directly linked with the stock price performance in the near future. 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, running from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), holds an admirable track record of superior performance, independently audited, with #1 stocks contributing an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.39% lower. Currently, Waste Management is carrying a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

From a valuation perspective, Waste Management is currently exchanging hands at a Forward P/E ratio of 29.96. This valuation marks a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 25.28.

We can additionally observe that WM currently boasts a PEG ratio of 2.73. 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. The Waste Removal Services was holding an average PEG ratio of 2.51 at yesterday's closing price.

The Waste Removal Services industry is part of the Business Services sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 140, which puts it in the bottom 45% of all 250+ industries.

The strength of our individual industry groups is measured by the Zacks Industry Rank, which is calculated based on the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within these 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.

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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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