Waste Connections, Inc. (WCN)

Key figures

The last twelve months reported, with the latest price and balance sheet.

Revenue, last twelve months

$9.9B

Revenue growth

6.3%

Net income, last twelve months

$1.1B

Earnings per share

$4.47

Gross margin

42.6%

Operating margin

17.7%

Net margin

11.4%

Free cash flow

$1.2B

Return on equity

14.4%

Market value

$45.0B

Price to earnings

40.2x

Dividend yield

0.8%

Cash

$95.7M

Debt

$9.4B

Debt to equity

1.20

Shares outstanding

250.2M

Financial statements

Revenue, profit and cash flow by fiscal year, each year linked to its annual report.

By quarter

What the company said with its results

From the third quarter of 2026 results, filed 21 October 2026.

• Revenue rose to $2.638 billion. Revenue was $2.638 billion, up from $2.458 billion a year earlier. The increase is shown in the reported statements alongside higher cost of operations and depreciation.
• Net income and per-share earnings rose. Net income was $359.2 million, or $1.43 per diluted share, against $286.3 million, or $1.11, a year earlier. Adjusted net income was $398.9 million, or $1.58 per diluted share.
• Adjusted EBITDA reached $895.8 million. Adjusted EBITDA was $895.8 million, compared with $830.3 million in the prior year period. The measure excludes impairments and acquisition-related items, per the reconciliation.
• Operating income rose to $541.7 million. Operating income was $541.7 million, against $439.6 million a year earlier. The current quarter included $3.0 million of transaction-related expenses and $1.9 million of impairments and other items.
• Collection remains the largest share. Solid waste collection was 69.0% of Q3 reported revenue and disposal and transfer was 18.7%. E&P waste treatment was 8.1%, up from 7.3% in the year-earlier quarter.
• E&P waste revenue grew fastest. E&P waste treatment, recovery and disposal reported revenue of $212.9 million, up from $179.1 million. Management said trends in landfill activity and commodity-driven revenue improved.
• Recycling and intermodal revenue rose. Recycling reported revenue of $64.7 million, up from $56.2 million, and intermodal and other $48.4 million, up from $42.0 million. Management named commodity-driven revenues as a further source of benefit.
• Core price held at 5.5%. Core price was 5.5% for the quarter and 5.7% for nine months. Solid waste internal growth was 4.5% for the quarter, including yield of 4.3% and surcharges of 1.3%.
• Unit volume declined less than before. Unit volume was down 1.2% for the quarter, against down 1.9% in the second quarter. Management attributed the 70 basis point sequential improvement mainly to landfill volumes.
• Yield defined as price per unit. Yield measures change in average price per unit of service, including effects of customer churn, new business and resulting mix by line of business and geography.
• Internalization at 58%. Internalization for the three months was 58%, against 59% in the prior quarter, and days sales outstanding was 39 days, or 23 net of deferred revenue.
• Adjusted EBITDA margin reached 34.0%. Adjusted EBITDA margin was 34.0%, against 33.8% a year earlier. The company reported underlying margin expansion of 50 basis points while absorbing a late-quarter diesel price rise.
• Nine-month operating income included impairments. Nine-month operating income was $1.343 billion, against $1.289 billion, and included $139.9 million of impairments and other operating items.
• Prior-year charges were much larger. Impairments and other operating items were $1.9 million in Q3 2026, against $60.1 million a year earlier. The prior-year quarter included contract and environmental charges.

Revenue by segment

As the company reports it in the segment note of its annual report.

By business, FY2025

Company events

The newest 8-K filings of 158 held.

Every filing

The newest filings with the SEC of 537 held.

Insider trades

Form 4 trades by officers, directors and 10% owners, last 12 months.

Planned insider sales

Form 144 notices, filed when the sell order goes to the broker.

Large holders

Schedule 13D and 13G filings by holders of more than 5% of the voting shares.

Trades by members of the House

From each member's periodic transaction report.

Short interest

Shares sold short and not yet bought back, on each FINRA settlement date.

Funds that hold it

From each fund's latest Form 13F.

915 funds held it at 30 Jun 2026: 391 added and 300 trimmed in the quarter. The largest:

Peers

Companies in the same industry.

• Waste Management Inc. (WM): revenue $26.1B, market value $89.6B
• Republic Services, Inc. (RSG): revenue $16.9B, market value $71.5B
• Casella Waste Systems Inc. (CWST): revenue $2.0B, market value $5.6B

What the company does

Waste Connections, Inc. describes itself as the third largest solid waste services company in North America. It provides non-hazardous waste collection, transfer and disposal services, including by rail, along with resource recovery primarily through recycling and renewable fuels generation, in 46 states in the U.S. and six provinces in Canada. It also treats, recovers and disposes of non-hazardous oil and natural gas exploration and production waste, called E&P waste, and offers intermodal services for moving cargo and solid waste containers in the Pacific Northwest. At 31 December 2025 it employed approximately 24,214 active employees. The company is organised under the laws of Ontario, Canada.

How the business is organised

The company manages its operations on a decentralized basis through six geographic operating segments. Each segment has a regional vice president and a regional controller who report directly to corporate management. Each operating location has a district or site manager with decision-making authority over service quality, safety, marketing and day-to-day operations. Executive officers monitor regional and district results and require adherence to company accounting, purchasing, safety, marketing, legal and internal control policies.

The company targets markets, including secondary and rural ones, where it can operate through exclusive contracts, vertical integration or asset positioning. It says it intends to keep growing through acquisitions, often "tucked in" to existing operations.

What it sells

Collection services go to residential, commercial, municipal, industrial and E&P customers. They are provided under governmental certificates, exclusive franchise agreements, exclusive municipal contracts, residential subscriptions, residential contracts, or commercial, industrial and E&P service agreements.

- Governmental certificates exist only in Washington State and are awarded by the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission. - Franchise agreements typically give an exclusive period of seven years or longer for a specified territory. - Municipal contracts typically run shorter and generally require competitive bidding at the end of the term. - Commercial and industrial customer agreements generally run from one to five years.

The company also runs transfer stations, which receive and compact waste for shipment to landfills or treatment sites by truck, rail or barge. Its recycling operations handle compost, cardboard, mixed paper, plastic containers, glass bottles and ferrous and aluminum metals. The majority of recyclables it processes for sale are paper products.

Landfills and landfill gas

At 31 December 2025 the company owned or operated 77 MSW landfills (municipal solid waste), 20 E&P waste landfills and caverns, and 17 non-MSW landfills that accept only construction and demolition, industrial and other non-putrescible waste. It generally owns landfills to achieve vertical integration, from collection through disposal.

With probable expansions included, the estimate is approximately 34 years. The company is seeking to expand permitted capacity at six landfills. It also operates seven landfills it does not own, under contracts that expire between 2027 and 2042.

Gas recovery systems collect methane at 61 landfills. At 15 of these projects the gas fuels electricity generators, and at 17 it is processed to pipeline quality natural gas. In some cases the gas qualifies as a renewable fuel for which renewable fuel credits may be available.

E&P waste

E&P waste covers by-products of oil and natural gas drilling and production, such as drilling fluids, drill cuttings, flowback water and produced water. The customers are the exploration and production companies in the areas the company serves. It treats and disposes of this waste through E&P waste landfills and caverns, MSW landfills that also take E&P waste, injection wells and treatment and oil recovery facilities. In certain locations it provides a terminal for customers' clean crude oil to reach a pipeline. The company does not conduct hydraulic fracturing itself.

Competition and regulation

The company names Waste Management, Inc., Republic Services, Inc. and GFL Environmental, Inc. as publicly held competitors, along with regional companies and several thousand small, local, privately owned companies. It competes for collection, transfer and disposal volume primarily on price and, to a lesser extent, service quality. In E&P waste, competition comes primarily from smaller regional companies, and customers may also use internal disposal methods.

Its operations are subject to federal, state, provincial and local environmental, health and safety laws. In the United States the main environmental regulator is the Environmental Protection Agency. In Canada, federal departments such as Environment and Climate Change Canada and provincial bodies such as the Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks apply their own rules.

It puts the fluctuation between its highest and lowest quarters at approximately 10%.

Its people

Of the 24,214 active employees, 20,471 are in the U.S. and 3,743 in Canada. They include 11,347 commercial truck drivers and 2,020 mechanics. About 16% of the workforce is covered by collective bargaining agreements, primarily with the Teamsters Union. Safety is the company's first operating value, and it uses onboard event recording technology to coach drivers.

Two commercial driving academies, established in 2024, have trained more than 1,400 drivers. The company also runs a scholarship program for diesel technology training at WyoTech, which has produced approximately 70 technicians now working at company locations. Its culture is built on what it calls Servant Leadership.

*From Waste Connections's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended 31 December 2025. [The filing](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1318220/000110465926013700/wcn-20251231x10k.htm)*

From the company's 10-K.