WM Waste Management

By Michael Dabaie

Waste Management Inc. shares were down 3% to $156.50 after third-quarter adjusted earnings missed analyst views and the company said it is seeing labor constraints.

Before the market open, the provider of waste management environmental services reported third-quarter revenue of $4.7 billion, up from $3.9 billion a year earlier and above FactSet consensus for $4.5 billion.

Adjusted earnings per share of $1.26 fell short of FactSet consensus of $1.35.

"Like many other companies, we are seeing constraints on labor availability," said Chief Executive Jim Fish.

During the quarter, the company invested in front-line market wage adjustments and training for new employees.

"We remain focused on improving operational efficiency and executing on our disciplined pricing programs to drive margin growth in the face of these additional labor costs and other inflationary cost pressures," Mr. Fish said.

Waste Management guided for total company revenue growth in 2021 between 17% and 17.5%. In late July, the company guided for revenue growth of 15.5% to 16.0%.

"WM reported an adjusted EPS miss blamed on higher costs (labor, other inflationary cost pressures). However, revenues were better than expected mainly driven by strong yield; this helped drive better-than-expected free cash flow," BMO Capital Markets said in a note after the earnings report.

Write to Michael Dabaie at michael.dabaie@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 26, 2021 11:11 ET (15:11 GMT)

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