Waste management services provider Waste Management (NYSE: WM) met Wall Street’s revenue expectations in Q2 CY2026, with sales up 4% year on year to $6.68 billion. On the other hand, the company’s full-year revenue guidance of $26.38 billion at the midpoint came in 0.6% below analysts’ estimates. Its non-GAAP profit of $2.02 per share was 2.1% above analysts’ consensus estimates.
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Waste Management (WM) Q2 CY2026 Highlights:
- Revenue: $6.68 billion vs analyst estimates of $6.71 billion (4% year-on-year growth, in line)
- Adjusted EPS: $2.02 vs analyst estimates of $1.98 (2.1% beat)
- Adjusted EBITDA: $2.07 billion vs analyst estimates of $2.03 billion (30.9% margin, 1.6% beat)
- EBITDA guidance for the full year is $8.2 million at the midpoint, below analyst estimates of $8.20 billion
- Operating Margin: 18.7%, in line with the same quarter last year
- Free Cash Flow Margin: 16.5%, up from 12.6% in the same quarter last year
- Market Capitalization: $95.53 billion
“Second quarter earnings growth, margin expansion, and cash flow generation reflect the strength of our business model and consistent execution from the WM team,” said Jim Fish, WM’s CEO.
Company Overview
Headquartered in Houston, Waste Management (NYSE: WM) is a provider of comprehensive waste management services in North America.
Revenue Growth
Examining a company’s long-term performance can provide clues about its quality. Any business can experience short-term success, but top-performing ones enjoy sustained growth for years. Thankfully, Waste Management’s 9.2% annualized revenue growth over the last five years was solid. Its growth beat the average industrials company and shows its offerings resonate with customers, a helpful starting point for our analysis.
Long-term growth is the most important, but within industrials, a half-decade historical view may miss new industry trends or demand cycles. Waste Management’s annualized revenue growth of 10.6% over the last two years is above its five-year trend, suggesting its demand was strong and recently accelerated. 
This quarter, Waste Management grew its revenue by 4% year on year, and its $6.68 billion of revenue was in line with Wall Street’s estimates.
Looking ahead, sell-side analysts expect revenue to grow 6.2% over the next 12 months, a deceleration versus the last two years. This projection is underwhelming and indicates its products and services will face some demand challenges. At least the company is tracking well in other measures of financial health.
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Operating Margin
Operating margin is an important measure of profitability as it shows the portion of revenue left after accounting for all core expenses — everything from the cost of goods sold to advertising and wages. It’s also useful for comparing profitability across companies with different levels of debt and tax rates because it excludes interest and taxes.
Waste Management’s operating margin has generally stayed the same over the last 12 months, averaging 17.5% over the last five years. This profitability was elite for an industrials business thanks to its efficient cost structure and economies of scale. This is seen in its fast historical revenue growth and healthy gross margin, which is why we look at all three data points together.
Looking at the trend in its profitability, Waste Management’s operating margin might have fluctuated slightly but has generally stayed the same over the last five years. This raises questions about the company’s expense base because its revenue growth should have given it leverage on its fixed costs, resulting in better economies of scale and profitability.
In Q2, Waste Management generated an operating margin profit margin of 18.7%, in line with the same quarter last year. This indicates the company’s cost structure has recently been stable.
Earnings Per Share
Revenue trends explain a company’s historical growth, but the long-term change in earnings per share (EPS) points to the profitability of that growth — for example, a company could inflate its sales through excessive spending on advertising and promotions.
Waste Management’s solid 11.2% annual EPS growth over the last five years aligns with its revenue performance. This tells us its incremental sales were profitable.
Like with revenue, we analyze EPS over a more recent period because it can provide insight into an emerging theme or development for the business.
For Waste Management, its two-year annual EPS growth of 5.6% was lower than its five-year trend. This wasn’t great, but at least the company was successful in other measures of financial health.
In Q2, Waste Management reported adjusted EPS of $2.02, up from $1.92 in the same quarter last year. This print beat analysts’ estimates by 2.1%. Over the next 12 months, Wall Street expects Waste Management’s full-year EPS to grow 11.6% from $7.74 to $8.63.
Key Takeaways from Waste Management’s Q2 Results
It was encouraging to see Waste Management beat analysts’ EBITDA expectations this quarter. On the other hand, its full-year EBITDA guidance missed and its full-year revenue guidance fell slightly short of Wall Street’s estimates. Overall, this quarter could have been better. The stock traded down 3.1% to $232.54 immediately following the results.
Waste Management didn’t show its best hand this quarter, but does that create an opportunity to buy the stock right now? If you’re making that decision, you should consider the bigger picture of valuation, business qualities, as well as the latest earnings. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here (it’s free).
