WCN vs. RSG, GFL, WM, FIS, SQ, PAYX, PLTR, VRSK, IT, and CPRT
Should you be buying Waste Connections stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Waste Connections include Republic Services (RSG), GFL Environmental (GFL), Waste Management (WM), Fidelity National Information Services (FIS), Block (SQ), Paychex (PAYX), Palantir Technologies (PLTR), Verisk Analytics (VRSK), Gartner (IT), and Copart (CPRT). These companies are all part of the "business services" sector.
Republic Services (NYSE:RSG) and Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) are both large-cap business services companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership, community ranking, valuation, earnings, dividends and media sentiment.
In the previous week, Waste Connections had 15 more articles in the media than Republic Services. MarketBeat recorded 24 mentions for Waste Connections and 9 mentions for Republic Services. Waste Connections' average media sentiment score of 1.44 beat Republic Services' score of 0.43 indicating that Republic Services is being referred to more favorably in the media.
Republic Services has higher revenue and earnings than Waste Connections. Republic Services is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Waste Connections, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Republic Services has a beta of 0.67, indicating that its stock price is 33% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Waste Connections has a beta of 0.67, indicating that its stock price is 33% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Republic Services pays an annual dividend of $2.14 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. Waste Connections pays an annual dividend of $1.14 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. Republic Services pays out 37.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Waste Connections pays out 37.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Republic Services has increased its dividend for 21 consecutive years and Waste Connections has increased its dividend for 7 consecutive years. Republic Services is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.
57.7% of Republic Services shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 86.1% of Waste Connections shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.1% of Republic Services shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Waste Connections shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Waste Connections received 368 more outperform votes than Republic Services when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 75.13% of users gave Waste Connections an outperform vote while only 64.95% of users gave Republic Services an outperform vote.
Republic Services has a net margin of 11.81% compared to Republic Services' net margin of 9.70%. Waste Connections' return on equity of 17.56% beat Republic Services' return on equity.
Republic Services currently has a consensus price target of $201.00, indicating a potential upside of 6.82%. Waste Connections has a consensus price target of $179.33, indicating a potential upside of 7.01%. Given Republic Services' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Waste Connections is more favorable than Republic Services.
Summary
Waste Connections beats Republic Services on 13 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.
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This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding WCN and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
Skip ChartThis chart shows the average media sentiment of NYSE and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
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