WM raises net income compared with 1 year ago

WM has reported net income of $726 million in the second quarter of 2025, a 6.7 percent increase compared with the $680 million it earned in the second quarter of 2024.

Throughout its second quarter 2025 earnings report, the Houston-based waste and recycling company breaks out revenue and profit figures into its legacy business and its new Healthcare Solutions business unit, consisting of operations acquired from its purchase of the former Stericycle.

The Healthcare Solutions second quarter 2025 revenue of $82 million is just 4.4 percent of WM’s overall business of nearly $1.6 billion during the three months.

“As we described at our recent Investor Day, WM is building distinctive platforms to drive competitive differentiation and fuel a powerful, long-term growth engine to create shareholder value,” WM CEO Jim Fish says. “Our second quarter results are a strong demonstration of our progress on all fronts.

“Our Collection and Disposal business produced robust organic revenue growth and margin expansion, achieving the company’s best-ever operating expense margin.

"We also grew operating earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) by double digits in both our Recycling Processing and Sales and WM Renewable Energy segments, as the earnings contributions from investments we have made in our sustainability businesses accelerate.”

WM has reported net Recycling Processing and Sales operating revenue of $381 million in this year’s second quarter, representing a 5.9 percent decline from the $405 million figure a year earlier.

The company says it continued with its investments in recycling and renewable natural gas (RNG) facilities this spring.

“During the quarter, three growth projects commenced operations, including a new renewable natural gas facility in Illinois, a recycling automation project in Pennsylvania and a new market recycling facility in Oregon," WM says. "These additions bring total RNG projects completed to eight out of 20 planned facilities and total recycling automation and new market projects completed to 29 out of 39 planned.”

Regarding its overall second quarter 2025 EBITDA, WM says its Collection and Disposal business led the way with an adjusted margin of 37.9 percent driven by organic revenue growth, continued cost discipline and an optimized business mix.

“As the most significant driver of WM’s performance, the core collection and disposal business continues to impress," Trevor Romeo, an analyst with Chicago-based equities research firm William Blair, says regarding the WM collection and disposal figures. "We see significant value in WM’s network of post-collection and transportation assets that continue to drive strong landfill volumes and internalization.”

Commenting on where WM stands with half of this year’s financial reporting in the books, Fish remarks, “We set a high bar in 2025, and through the first half of the year we have met those high expectations. Our team is focused on serving our customers, optimizing our costs and innovating to support differentiation and growth.

“Executing on these priorities is expected to drive strong results in the back half of 2025 and position us to deliver on our guidance, achieve attractive returns on investments and grow shareholder value.”