William Blair Expects Reduced Earnings for Waste Connections

Key Points

• William Blair has lowered its Q4 2025 EPS estimate for Waste Connections to $1.27 from $1.29, reflecting a slight downgrade in expectations for the company's earnings performance.
• The company recently reported Q3 earnings of $1.44 per share, surpassing analyst expectations, with revenue growth of 5.1% year-over-year, totaling $2.47 billion.
• Waste Connections is increasing its quarterly dividend to $0.35, up from $0.32, indicating a continued commitment to returning value to shareholders amid fluctuating stock performance.

Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN - Free Report) - Equities research analysts at William Blair lowered their Q4 2025 EPS estimates for shares of Waste Connections in a report issued on Thursday, October 23rd. William Blair analyst T. Romeo now expects that the business services provider will post earnings per share of $1.27 for the quarter, down from their prior forecast of $1.29. The consensus estimate for Waste Connections' current full-year earnings is $5.28 per share. William Blair also issued estimates for Waste Connections' Q1 2026 earnings at $1.17 EPS, Q2 2026 earnings at $1.41 EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at $1.53 EPS, Q4 2026 earnings at $1.44 EPS, FY2026 earnings at $5.55 EPS and FY2027 earnings at $6.24 EPS.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 21st. The business services provider reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.38 by $0.06. Waste Connections had a net margin of 6.65% and a return on equity of 16.07%. The business had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.46 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.35 EPS. The company's revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. Waste Connections has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on WCN. Atb Cap Markets upgraded shares of Waste Connections from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Scotiabank restated an "outperform" rating and set a $210.00 target price on shares of Waste Connections in a research report on Thursday. Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Waste Connections in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. UBS Group set a $195.00 target price on shares of Waste Connections and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $221.00 to $218.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $210.63.

Waste Connections Trading Down 0.9%

Shares of WCN opened at $176.91 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $177.11 and a 200-day simple moving average of $185.48. Waste Connections has a 1-year low of $169.36 and a 1-year high of $201.66. The stock has a market cap of $45.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 73.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.62.

Waste Connections Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 20th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 5th will be issued a $0.35 dividend. This is a boost from Waste Connections's previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 5th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Waste Connections's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.81%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Waste Connections

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC now owns 29,791 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $5,237,000 after purchasing an additional 317 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 19.8% in the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 7,512 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,321,000 after purchasing an additional 1,240 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 25.5% in the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 135,771 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $23,869,000 after purchasing an additional 27,561 shares during the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 28,826 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $5,068,000 after purchasing an additional 1,251 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Park Avenue Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Waste Connections in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,798,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.09% of the company's stock.

About Waste Connections

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.

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