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Waste Management's Second Quarter Earnings Report
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Waste Management (NYSE:WM) announced its results for the second quarter on July 26, 2012. Waste Management is a provider of integrated waste services in North America. It provides collection, transfer, recycling, disposal and waste-to-energy services.
Earnings are perhaps the single most studied number in a company's financial statements because they show a company's profitability. SEE: Everything Investors Need To Know About Earnings
The Numbers: Waste Management missed estimates with 45 cents per share and revenues of $3.46 billion. Analysts were expecting 53 cents per share and revenues of $3.51 billion. EPS fell 10% while revenue climbed 3.3% from the same period last year. Waste Management's revenue has grown during each of the past four quarters on a year-over-year basis. Waste Management reported profit of $208 million during the second quarter. According to the reported number, this is down 12.2% from last year's figures. Last quarter marks the third in a row in which the company's net income has fallen. Profits declined 8.1% in the first quarter and 5.3% in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year.
A Look Back: Last quarter was the fifth in a row that the company saw shrinking gross margins, as they fell 1.4 percentage points from the year-earlier quarter to 34.7%. In that span, margins have contracted an average of 1.6 percentage points per quarter on a year-over-year basis.
Net income has dropped 3.6% year-over-year on average across the last five quarters. Performance was hurt by a 12.2% decline in the most recent quarter from the year-earlier quarter.
Looking Ahead: Expectations for the company's next-quarter results are lower than they have been. Over the past 60 days, the average estimate for third quarter has fallen from 64 cents per share to 63 cents. Decreasing earnings estimates is generally a negative sign as it suggests analyst believe future earnings to be weaker than previously anticipated. For the fiscal year, the average estimate has moved down from $2.24 a share to $2.20 over the last 90 days.
Earnings are perhaps the single most studied number in a company's financial statements because they show a company's profitability. SEE: Everything Investors Need To Know About Earnings
The Numbers: Waste Management missed estimates with 45 cents per share and revenues of $3.46 billion. Analysts were expecting 53 cents per share and revenues of $3.51 billion. EPS fell 10% while revenue climbed 3.3% from the same period last year. Waste Management's revenue has grown during each of the past four quarters on a year-over-year basis. Waste Management reported profit of $208 million during the second quarter. According to the reported number, this is down 12.2% from last year's figures. Last quarter marks the third in a row in which the company's net income has fallen. Profits declined 8.1% in the first quarter and 5.3% in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year.
Net income has dropped 3.6% year-over-year on average across the last five quarters. Performance was hurt by a 12.2% decline in the most recent quarter from the year-earlier quarter.
Looking Ahead: Expectations for the company's next-quarter results are lower than they have been. Over the past 60 days, the average estimate for third quarter has fallen from 64 cents per share to 63 cents. Decreasing earnings estimates is generally a negative sign as it suggests analyst believe future earnings to be weaker than previously anticipated. For the fiscal year, the average estimate has moved down from $2.24 a share to $2.20 over the last 90 days.
by
Investopedia Staff
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