Waste Management (WM 0.69%) stock has been in the dumps lately: After a big slump in mid-2011, the company has trailed the S&P 500 by 20 percentage points. Since then, however, the nation's largest garbage hauler has taken steps to position itself for future success, leveraging its dense collection network and reorienting itself toward greener, more environmentally friendly waste solutions. Most recently, the company has announced an ambitious restructuring plan to create a flatter, more responsive, and more effective management structure.
To help investors decide whether Waste Management is trash or treasure, The Motley Fool has compiled a premium research report on the company. Today, you can enjoy a free sneak peek of the report. Read on to learn more about one opportunity Waste Management plans to capitalize on
Preparing for the trash of the future
Waste Management is undergoing a transition that will position the company to be the provider of choice for greener waste solutions. To green its own operations (not to mention save big on fuel costs) Waste Management has phased in a garbage truck fleet that runs on clean-burning, inexpensive, natural gas. The company eventually hopes to fuel its trucks entirely from the methane-rich landfill gas that it harvests from its own disposal sites.Elsewhere, Waste Management operates over 130 landfill-gas-to-energy sites, 17 waste-to-electricity plants, and 17 natural gas refueling stations. Waste Management has invested in technology to accelerate the decomposition of organic matter, saving space in landfills and allowing Waste Management to harvest and sell energy-rich gases as well as rich organic fertilizers. Waste Management's best-in-class sorting system allows the company to pull over 10-million tons of valuable products like glass, paper pulp, plastics, and metals out of the waste stream and sell them.
Waste Management is well ahead of its competitors on this front: Republic Services (RSG 1.04%) has only recently allowed one-stream disposal solutions, for example, a service Waste Management has offered for a decade. The company wants to keep its technological and operational lead, demonstrating its commitment to green waste treatment and recycling through a series of investments in small technology firms developing world-class solutions for waste treatment. Waste Management believes that reimagining the waste stream as a resource is a way of not only making its customers happier about their ecological footprint, but also of making its investors wealthy.
Besides the preceding sample, our premium research report digs deep into more opportunities Waste Management is looking to exploit, as well as risks the company faces. You'll also find reasons to buy or sell, a look at the company's management team, and the Foolish Bottom Line on Waste Management. Best of all, the report keeps investors informed with a full year of analyst updates. To keep reading, just click here to get your copy today.
