Waste Management posts Q4 earnings miss, guides for 5.5% revenue growth (NYSE:WM)

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) -1.1% post-market Tuesday after reporting Q4 adjusted earnings of $1.30/share and revenues of $4.93B that narrowly missed analyst consensus estimates.

Q4 GAAP net income slipped to $499M, or $1.21/share, from $506M, or $1.20/share, in the year-earlier quarter, as revenues rose 5.5% Y/Y to $4.93B.

Q4 adjusted operating EBITDA rose to $1.36B, or 27.5% of revenue, from $1.25B, or 26.7% of revenue, in the prior-year period.

Q4 core price was 8.1% compared to 5.1% in the year-ago quarter; collection and disposal yield was 7.7% compared to 3.7%; and total company volumes fell 0.7%, or a decline of 0.4% on a workday adjusted basis, vs. an increase of 2.8%, or up 2.3% on a workday adjusted basis.

Waste Management (WM) guided for FY 2023 revenue to rise by 4%-5.5%, including 5.5% organic revenue growth from the collection and disposal business, excluding fuel, as well as core price of 6.5%-7% and collection and disposal yield approaching 5.5%; collection and disposal volume is expected to come in flat compared with 2022.

FY 2023 total company adjusted operating EBITDA is forecast at $5.825B-$5.975B, compared to $5.51B in 2022, a $390M increase at the midpoint of the range.

The company earlier had indicated its intention to increase the annual dividend by $0.20/share to $2.80.

Waste Management (WM) shares have lost 1% so far this year and gained 3% during the past year.