Waste Connections (WCN) Stock Price, News & Analysis

Company Overview

Waste Connections, Inc. provides non-hazardous waste collection, transfer, disposal, and resource recovery services in the United States and Canada. It offers collection services to residential, commercial, municipal, industrial, and exploration and production (E&P) customers; landfill disposal services; and recycling services for various recyclable materials, including compost, cardboard, mixed paper, plastic containers, glass bottles, and ferrous and aluminum metals. The company owns and operates transfer stations that receive compact and/or load waste to be transported to landfills or treatment facilities through truck, rail, or barge; and intermodal services for the rail haul movement of cargo and solid waste containers in the Pacific Northwest through a network of intermodal facilities. In addition, it provides E&P waste treatment, recovery, and disposal services for waste resulting from oil and natural gas exploration and production activity, such as drilling fluids, drill cuttings, completion fluids, and flowback water; production wastes and produced water during a well's operating life; contaminated soils that require treatment during site reclamation; and substances, which require clean-up after a spill, reserve pit clean-up, or pipeline rupture. Further, the company offers leasing services to its customers. Waste Connections, Inc. was founded in 1997 and is based in Woodbridge, Canada.

Key Stats

• Today's Range: $193.97 to $195.41
• 50-Day Range: $183.18 to $199.84
• 52-Week Range: $160.34 to $201.66
• Volume: 335,391 shs
• Average Volume: 968,635 shs
• Market Capitalization: $50.26 billion
• P/E Ratio: 81.40
• Dividend Yield: 0.65%
• Price Target: $208.21
• Consensus Rating: Moderate Buy

Waste Connections Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

Waste Connections scored higher than 83% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 51st out of 315 stocks in the business services sector. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

Analyst's Opinion

• Score: 2.5 / 5
• Analyst Rating: Moderate Buy

Consensus Rating

Waste Connections has received a consensus rating of Moderate Buy. The company's average rating score is 2.94, and is based on 12 buy ratings, 3 hold ratings, and no sell ratings.

Amount of Analyst Coverage

Waste Connections has been the subject of 8 research reports in the past 90 days, demonstrating strong analyst interest in this stock.

Earnings and Valuation

• Score: 1.3 / 5
• Proj. Earnings Growth: 14.02%

Earnings Growth

Earnings for Waste Connections are expected to grow by 14.02% in the coming year, from $5.28 to $6.02 per share.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

The P/E ratio of Waste Connections is 81.29, which means that it is trading at a more expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 22.16.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of Waste Connections is 81.29, which means that it is trading at a more expensive P/E ratio than the Business Services sector average P/E ratio of about 31.97.

Price to Earnings Growth Ratio

Waste Connections has a PEG Ratio of 3.07. PEG Ratios above 1 indicate that a company could be overvalued.

Price to Book Value per Share Ratio

Waste Connections has a P/B Ratio of 6.38. P/B Ratios above 3 indicate that a company could be overvalued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

Short Interest

• Score: 4.0 / 5
• Short Interest Level: Healthy

Percentage of Shares Shorted

0.82% of the float of Waste Connections has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Waste Connections has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 1.8, which is generally considered an acceptable ratio of short interest to trading volume.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Waste Connections has recently decreased by 1.86%, indicating that investor sentiment is improving.

Dividend

• Score: 1.7 / 5
• Dividend Strength: Weak

Dividend Yield

Waste Connections has a dividend yield of 0.64%, which is in the bottom 25% of all stocks that pay dividends.

Dividend Growth

Waste Connections does not have a long track record of dividend growth.

Dividend Coverage

The dividend payout ratio of Waste Connections is 51.85%. This payout ratio is at a healthy, sustainable level, below 75%.

Dividend Sustainability

Based on earnings estimates, Waste Connections will have a dividend payout ratio of 20.93% next year. This indicates that Waste Connections will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

Sustainability and ESG

• Score: 3.5 / 5
• Environmental Score: -0.10

Percentage of Shares Shorted

0.82% of the float of Waste Connections has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Waste Connections has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 1.8, which is generally considered an acceptable ratio of short interest to trading volume.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Waste Connections has recently decreased by 1.86%, indicating that investor sentiment is improving.

News and Social Media

• Score: 2.7 / 5
• News Sentiment: 0.86

News Sentiment

Waste Connections has a news sentiment score of 0.86. This score is calculated as an average of sentiment of articles about the company over the last seven days and ranges from 2 (good news) to -2 (bad news). This is a higher news sentiment than the 0.65 average news sentiment score of Business Services companies.

News Coverage This Week

MarketBeat has tracked 22 news articles for Waste Connections this week, compared to 11 articles on an average week.

Search Interest

Only 2 people have searched for WCN on MarketBeat in the last 30 days. This is a decrease of -78% compared to the previous 30 days.

MarketBeat Follows

Only 4 people have added Waste Connections to their MarketBeat watchlist in the last 30 days. This is a decrease of -69% compared to the previous 30 days.

Company Ownership

• Score: 1.7 / 5
• Insider Trading: N/A

Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling

In the past three months, Waste Connections insiders have not sold or bought any company stock.

Percentage Held by Insiders

Only 0.28% of the stock of Waste Connections is held by insiders.

Percentage Held by Institutions

86.09% of the stock of Waste Connections is held by institutions. High institutional ownership can be a signal of strong market trust in this company.

WCN Stock Analysis - Frequently Asked Questions

How have WCN shares performed this year?

Waste Connections' stock was trading at $171.58 at the start of the year. Since then, WCN stock has increased by 13.2% and is now trading at $194.29.
View the best growth stocks for 2025 here.

How were Waste Connections' earnings last quarter?

Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April, 23rd. The business services provider reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.06. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis.
Read the conference call transcript.

When did Waste Connections' stock split?

Waste Connections shares split on the morning of Monday, June 19th 2017. The 3-2 split was announced on Wednesday, April 26th 2017. The newly minted shares were payable to shareholders after the closing bell on Friday, June 16th 2017. An investor that had 100 shares of stock prior to the split would have 150 shares after the split.

Who are Waste Connections' major shareholders?

Waste Connections' top institutional shareholders include WCM Investment Management LLC (2.47%), Pictet Asset Management Holding SA (1.81%), Mackenzie Financial Corp (1.77%) and TD Asset Management Inc (1.48%). Insiders that own company stock include Mary Anne Whitney, James Little, David Eddie, Robert Michael Cloninger, Patrick James Shea, Susan Netherton, Michael W Harlan, Eric Hansen, Robert Nielsen III, William J Razzouk, Philip Rivard and Andrea E Bertone.
View institutional ownership trends.

How do I buy shares of Waste Connections?

Shares of WCN stock can be purchased through any online brokerage account. Popular online brokerages with access to the U.S. stock market include Charles Schwab, E*TRADE, Fidelity, and Vanguard Brokerage Services.

What other stocks do shareholders of Waste Connections own?

Based on aggregate information from My MarketBeat watchlists, some other companies that Waste Connections investors own include The RMR Group (RMR), iShares Micro-Cap ETF (IWC), DiamondRock Hospitality (DRH), American Water Works (AWK), AUO (AUOTY), Triple Flag Precious Metals (TFPM) and Voyager Therapeutics (VYGR).

Company Calendar

• Record date for 3/13 Dividend: 2/27/2025
• Ex-Dividend for 3/13 Dividend: 2/27/2025
• Dividend Payable: 3/13/2025
• Last Earnings: 4/23/2025
• Record date for 5/22 Dividend: 5/07/2025
• Ex-Dividend for 5/22 Dividend: 5/07/2025
• Today: 5/09/2025
• Dividend Payable: 5/22/2025
• Next Earnings (Estimated): 7/23/2025
• Fiscal Year End: 12/31/2025

Industry, Sector and Symbol

• Stock Exchange: NYSE
• Sector: Business Services
• Industry: Refuse systems
• Sub-Industry: Business Services
• Current Symbol: NYSE:WCN
• CIK: 1318220
• Web: www.wasteconnections.com
• Phone: (905) 532-7510
• Fax: 905-532-7580
• Employees: 22,100
• Year Founded: 1997

Price Target and Rating

• Average Stock Price Target: $208.21
• High Stock Price Target: $221.00
• Low Stock Price Target: $189.00
• Potential Upside/Downside: +6.6%
• Consensus Rating: Moderate Buy
• Rating Score (0-4): 2.94
• Research Coverage: 17 Analysts

Profitability

• EPS (Most Recent Fiscal Year): $2.43
• Trailing P/E Ratio: 81.75
• Forward P/E Ratio: 37.00
• P/E Growth: 3.07
• Net Income: $617.57 million
• Net Margins: 6.92%
• Pretax Margin: 8.55%
• Return on Equity: 15.54%
• Return on Assets: 6.33%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: 1.03
• Current Ratio: 0.65
• Quick Ratio: 0.65

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: $9.08 billion
• Price / Sales: 5.56
• Cash Flow: $9.73 per share
• Price / Cash Flow: 20.09
• Book Value: $30.46 per share
• Price / Book: 6.41

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 258,364,000
• Free Float: 257,285,000
• Market Cap: $50.48 billion
• Optionable: Optionable
• Beta: 0.66