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Monday's Featured News Waste Management's Next Chapter Is Taking Shape for InvestorsWritten by Chris Markoch. Posted: 12/23/2025. 
Article Highlights - Waste Management’s Stericycle deal broadens its footprint into regulated, higher-margin services, but integration execution is now the swing factor for results.
- Core collection and disposal remains the profit engine, while the healthcare unit has been the main source of near-term friction.
- A larger dividend and a renewed buyback plan could become the next catalyst if cash flow targets hold.
Investors haven’t exactly "sold the news" on Waste Management Inc. (NYSE: WM), but recent price action suggests they want to see headlines translate into stronger profit momentum. In 2025, Waste Management began integrating its acquisition of Stericycle’s medical-waste and secure information-destruction business, which was announced in June 2024 and closed in November 2024. For the first part of 2025, that deal acted as a tailwind for WM stock. Buy This AI Stock Tomorrow Morning?
A former hedge fund manager known for spotting early winners is sounding the alarm once again. He called Netflix at $7.78 (up 4,200% since), Apple at $0.35 (up 20,000%), and Amazon at a split-adjust $2.41 (up 3,200%). Now he's turning his focus to a little-known AI company that just earned a near-perfect score in his new proprietary stock grading system. In a brand-new presentation, he reveals the name, ticker symbol, and why this could be the smartest AI move of the year... especially if you're over 50. Click here to watch it before word gets out. However, the company’s most recent earnings report showed that expanding into a complex, highly regulated business requires near-perfect execution, and WM didn’t fully deliver. Revenue was $6.44 billion, up 14% year-over-year but essentially flat sequentially and below analysts’ forecast of $6.51 billion. EPS came in at $1.98, missing estimates by $0.03, though it was up $0.02 versus the prior year. What Bullish Investors Liked in the Earnings Report Despite the EPS miss, Waste Management reported solid quarterly results. Operating earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) increased by more than 15%, free cash flow grew roughly 33%, and management is forecasting about $3.8 billion of free cash flow for 2026. The company’s core collection and disposal business remains the engine of growth: margins expanded to a record 38.4%, driven by disciplined price-to-cost spreads and fleet and maintenance efficiencies. WM Healthcare Solutions Is Where Integration Friction Shows Up The healthcare unit provided the more mixed signal. Waste Management said WM Healthcare Solutions is tracking below initial expectations, citing deferred pricing actions, customer credits and ERP-related challenges. That is the key near-term risk: the acquisition increases the company’s addressable market but also adds operational complexity. Until the healthcare segment’s revenue cadence steadies and back-office systems normalize, the market is likely to be cautious about paying up for the next leg of growth. Analysts Stay Bullish Despite a Premium Valuation Analyst sentiment is mixed, reflected in a Moderate Buy rating. The stock trades near 34 times trailing earnings and about 28 times forward earnings—slightly premium but not necessarily a deal-breaker, especially when other metrics align with historical averages. WM Stock Is Consolidating—Not Breaking Down Waste Management’s long-term uptrend remains intact, but the stock is in a consolidation phase. On the weekly chart, WM has spent much of the past year digesting its strong 2023–2024 rally, carving out a choppy range after failing to hold above the $235–$245 area. That zone now serves as meaningful overhead resistance. 
The 50-week moving average, near $224, is an important technical marker. WM recently slipped below it and appears to be attempting to stabilize, which suggests an inflection point rather than a confirmed breakdown. A sustained move back above the 50-week line would improve the intermediate-term outlook. On the downside, support looks to be in the $205–$210 range, where buyers previously stepped in. As long as that level holds, the pullback reads more like consolidation than a trend reversal. Shareholder Returns Could Be the Next Catalyst With a few trading days left in 2025, WM stock is up about 8.5%. Combined with a dividend yield near 1.5%, that produces roughly a 9.5% total return for the year—respectable, though below the stock’s historical average. Investors hoping for more got a lift when the company announced a 14.5% increase to its quarterly dividend. The new dividend, about $0.94 per share, will be payable in WM’s first quarter of 2026 and marks 23 consecutive years of dividend increases. Waste Management also plans to reinstate stock buybacks in 2026, unveiling a $3 billion repurchase authorization. Management says this combination of dividend growth and buybacks positions WM to resume its historic growth trajectory in 2026 and beyond.
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