Investors are on the edge of their collective seats, hoping that Waste Connections (NYSE: WCN) will top analyst expectations for the fourth consecutive quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings Tuesday. Waste Connections is an integrated solid waste services company that provides solid waste collection, transfer, disposal and recycling services in the western and southern United States.

What analysts say:

  • Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts are very bullish on this stock, unanimously backing it as a buy. Analysts like Waste Connections better than competitor Stericycle overall. Five out of eight analysts rate Stericycle a buy compared with four of four for Waste Connections. That rating hasn't budged in three months as analysts have remained steady in their opinion of the stock.
  • Revenue Forecasts: On average, analysts predict $399.2 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 15.4% from the year-ago quarter.
  • Wall Street Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.40 per share. Estimates range from $0.40 to $0.41.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are solidly backing the stock with 100% awarding it an "outperform" rating. The community at large backs the All-Stars with 95.5% assigning it a rating of "outperform." Fools are bullish on Waste Connections, though the message boards have been quiet lately with only 48 posts in the past 30 days. Waste Connections has a bullish CAPS rating of five out of five stars that is about on par with the Fool community assessment.

Management:
Waste Connections' profit has risen year over year by an average of 38.5% over the past five quarters. Revenue has now gone up for three straight quarters.

Now let's look at how efficient management is at running the business. Traditionally, margins represent the efficiency with which companies capture portions of sales dollars. The following table shows gross, operating, and net margins over the past four quarters.

Quarter

Q2

Q1

Q4

Q3

Gross Margin

43.1%

43.6%

43.0%

44.0%

Operating Margin

21.7%

20.7%

20.2%

21.9%

Net Margin

11.4%

11.0%

10.8%

11.9%

For all our Waste Connections-specific analysis, including earnings and beyond, add Waste Connections to My Watchlist.

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