Waste Connections
WCN on NYSE. Waste Connections collects and disposes waste for homes and businesses. Market value $38.9bn.
Price checks use the past 12 months to June 2026. Quality checks use five annual reports, the latest for the year to December 2025.
Should I look at this?
Good business, but not cheap right now
Why it could be worth it
See cheaper Utilities stocks on the list
This is not advice. Check the numbers below.
For every $100 of what the whole company costs, it produced $3.16 of spare cash in the past 12 months. A savings account pays about $4.
You pay 29.0 years of operating profit for the business. The average large US company costs around 18.
Each dollar kept in the business earns 7 cents a year. Above 10 is good.
Quality score: 88 of 100. Price score: 34 of 100. Our list needs 70 on quality and 60 on price.
$154.62 a share, 5% above its 1-year low
Over the past year the price has ranged from $146.89 to $179.74.
Dividend: 0.9% a year
Paid every year for at least 5 years
Prices from Tuesday’s close (6 October).
Five years of cash, in billions
| Revenue | |||||
| Revenue | $6.2bn | $7.2bn | $8.0bn | $8.9bn | $9.5bn |
| Operating margin | |||||
| Operating margin | 16.9% | 17.2% | 15.4% | 12.0% | 18.1% |
| Debt to equity | |||||
| Debt to equity | 0.73 | 0.98 | 0.89 | 1.04 | 1.08 |
| Shares outstanding | |||||
| Shares outstanding | 0.26bn | 0.26bn | 0.26bn | 0.26bn | 0.25bn |
Health checks
- Free cash flow positive5 of 5 years
- Accounting looks honest (Beneish)Nothing unusual
- Financial strength (Piotroski)6 of 9
- Profit backed by cash (accruals)Yes
- Debt1.08× equity
- Revenue growth, five yearsStrong, 11.7% a year
- Buying back its own sharesYes, 2% fewer since 2021
The quarter to June 2026
How the business did, compared with the same quarter a year earlier.
- Sales: $2.6 billion last quarter, up 6% on a year ago.
- Profit: $296 million, up 2% on a year ago.
- It keeps 17 cents of each $1 of sales as operating profit, up from 12 cents a year earlier.
- Spare cash over the past 12 months: $1.2 billion, up from $1.1 billion.
- 2% fewer shares than a year ago. Each share owns a bit more of the company.
- Debt is $9.3 billion more than cash, up from $8.3 billion a year ago.
- Sales grew on a year ago in each of the last 4 quarters.
| Quarter to | Amount |
|---|---|
| September 2024 | $2.3bn |
| December 2024 | $2.3bn |
| March 2025 | $2.2bn |
| June 2025 | $2.4bn |
| September 2025 | $2.5bn |
| December 2025 | $2.4bn |
| March 2026 | $2.4bn |
| June 2026 | $2.6bn |
| Quarter to | Amount |
|---|---|
| September 2024 | $308m |
| December 2024 | -$196m |
| March 2025 | $242m |
| June 2025 | $290m |
| September 2025 | $286m |
| December 2025 | $259m |
| March 2026 | $219m |
| June 2026 | $296m |
From the company's quarterly reports to the SEC.
Dates
- Next results (estimated)
- n/a
- Last annual report (10-K)
- 12 February 2026
- Next quarterly (estimated, 10-Q)
- 22 October 2026
Who owns it
3 long-term investors we follow own it, down from 5 last quarter. 835 funds in all.
- GAMCO InvestorsMario Gabelli
- Value
- $14m
- Share of fund
- 0.1%
- Gotham Asset ManagementJoel Greenblatt
- Value
- $2m
- Share of fund
- <0.1%
| Fund | Value | Share of that fund | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Findlay Park PartnersFindlay Park team | $214m | 2.9% | Added |
| GAMCO InvestorsMario Gabelli | $14m | 0.1% | |
| Gotham Asset ManagementJoel Greenblatt | $2m | <0.1% |
Sold out this quarter
Largest holders overall
- Vanguard Capital Management$2.6bn
- Royal Bank of Canada$2.2bnAdded
- Vanguard Portfolio Management$1.9bn
- Bank of Montreal /can$1.4bnAdded
- 1832 Asset Management L.P.$1.2bnAdded
- BlackRock$1.1bnAdded
- FMR$890mCut
- Capital International Investors$764mCut
- AQR Capital Management$684mAdded
- Norges Bank$659mNew
From 13F filings for the quarter ended 30 June 2026.
Big holders and activists
1 investor owns more than 5%.
- Vanguard Capital ManagementPassive investor7.8%Since 31 March 2026
- The Vanguard GroupPassive investorSold down below 5%Since 13 March 2026
| Holder | Stake | Since | |
|---|---|---|---|
Vanguard Capital Management Passive investor | 7.8% | 31 March 2026 | |
The Vanguard Group Passive investor | Sold down below 5% | 13 March 2026 |
From Schedule 13D and 13G filings: anyone owning more than 5% must file one.
What insiders did
In the last 12 months, 1 insider bought $8m of shares on the open market. 10 sold $6m.
- NIELSEN III ROBERTSR VP OperationsSold
- Date
- 19 August 2026
- Shares
- 700
- Price
- $170.00
- Value
- $119,000
- RIVARD PHILIPSR VP Business DevelopmentSold
- Date
- 18 August 2026
- Shares
- 2,500
- Price
- $166.57
- Value
- $416,425
- Netherton SusanSR VP People, Training & DevSold
- Date
- 13 August 2026
- Shares
- 1,750
- Price
- $166.00
- Value
- $290,500
- NIELSEN III ROBERTSR VP OperationsSold
- Date
- 29 July 2026
- Shares
- 300
- Price
- $173.10
- Value
- $51,930
- Cloninger Robert MichaelSR VP, Deputy General CounselSold
- Date
- 28 July 2026
- Shares
- 2,811
- Price
- $171.02
- Value
- $480,749
- CRAFT JASONExecutive Vice President & COOSold
- Date
- 5 June 2026
- Shares
- 1,500
- Price
- $156.59
- Value
- $234,885
- Shea Patrick JamesExec VP, General Counsel & SecSold
- Date
- 5 June 2026
- Shares
- 7,500
- Price
- $156.26
- Value
- $1m
- NIELSEN III ROBERTSR VP OperationsSold
- Date
- 14 May 2026
- Shares
- 500
- Price
- $155.56
- Value
- $77,780
- NIELSEN III ROBERTSR VP OperationsSold
- Date
- 13 May 2026
- Shares
- 290
- Price
- $151.00
- Value
- $43,790
- NIELSEN III ROBERTSR VP OperationsSold
- Date
- 12 May 2026
- Shares
- 337
- Price
- $153.00
- Value
- $51,561
| Date | Who | Did | Shares | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 August 2026 | NIELSEN III ROBERT SR VP Operations | Sold | 700 | $170.00 | $119,000 |
| 18 August 2026 | RIVARD PHILIP SR VP Business Development | Sold | 2,500 | $166.57 | $416,425 |
| 13 August 2026 | Netherton Susan SR VP People, Training & Dev | Sold | 1,750 | $166.00 | $290,500 |
| 29 July 2026 | NIELSEN III ROBERT SR VP Operations | Sold | 300 | $173.10 | $51,930 |
| 28 July 2026 | Cloninger Robert Michael SR VP, Deputy General Counsel | Sold | 2,811 | $171.02 | $480,749 |
| 5 June 2026 | CRAFT JASON Executive Vice President & COO | Sold | 1,500 | $156.59 | $234,885 |
| 5 June 2026 | Shea Patrick James Exec VP, General Counsel & Sec | Sold | 7,500 | $156.26 | $1m |
| 14 May 2026 | NIELSEN III ROBERT SR VP Operations | Sold | 500 | $155.56 | $77,780 |
| 13 May 2026 | NIELSEN III ROBERT SR VP Operations | Sold | 290 | $151.00 | $43,790 |
| 12 May 2026 | NIELSEN III ROBERT SR VP Operations | Sold | 337 | $153.00 | $51,561 |
From Form 4 filings: insiders must report trades in their own company's shares within two days.
What could go wrong
- It isn't cheap on profits: 29.0× operating profit.
Whether the price already reflects the risks is what the deep dive is for.
The deep dive
Everything above is arithmetic on public filings. The deep dive reads the last ten years of annual reports, the proxy statements, and the earnings calls, then argues the case the way Buffett, Klarman, and Hohn would, and checks every claim against the source.
- What the business is worth, as a range, and the margin of safety at today’s price
- Prices to start buying, buy, and buy hard
- The three things that would make this a mistake
- Every number footnoted to the filing it came from
Your first deep dive is free.
Not advice. Numbers on this page come from SEC filings and are updated each night; prices are updated again after the US market closes. The five-year figures are rounded.