Week 3 - Final Project Milestone 1

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Week 3 – Final Project Milestone 1 1 Week 3 – Final Project Milestone 1 – Waste Management FIN 698 Southern New Hampshire University Professor Wright Nicole Johnson December 23, 2023
Week 3 – Final Project Milestone 1 2 Waste Management, Inc., now doing business as “WM”, is a waste management, comprehensive waste, and environmental services company. The company was founded in 1968 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas (Wikipedia, 2023). The current CEO James C. Fish Jr. has been in place since 2016, building a sustainable enterprise, leading from the front and by example. Jim Fish has a vision, rebranding Waste Management to WM, commenting that the firm’s decades-long approach to sustainability has made it “much more than a waste management company.” (Taylor, 2022). The vision Jim and other leaders at WM have is cutting edge and optimizing the sustainability approach to be environmentally friendly and still be leading the industry in waste removal and disposal because trash doesn’t go away, so we have to be smarter in how we handle materials. WM has roughly 49.5K employees, and in 2023 they ranked at spot 204 on the Fortune 500 list with a revenue of $19.7 million, and with profits of $2.2 million. The valuation of WM is $66.4 million, the valuation is the company's total revenue before subtracting operating expenses and multiplying it by an industry multiple. The industry multiple is an average of what companies usually sell for in the given industry (50 Pros, 2023). The technology that WM has brought into the industry has been revolutionary to not only WM but to other competitors as well, as WM is the cat the others copy. WM is currently revolutionizing landfill gases and investing in renewable natural gas facilities (RNG) and converting the methane gases that are naturally produced at landfills during the decomposition process and running pipelines to capture those methane gases, control odors, and convert the gas to renewable natural gas to power homes and businesses. The use of this energy as a substitute for fossil fuels reduces greenhouse gases, benefiting the community and the environment (WM Intellectual Property Holdings, 2023). WM is leading the waste industry
Week 3 – Final Project Milestone 1 3 in RNG facilities, but they aren’t the only ones that convert the gases, farmers are in this market as well, using manure as a conversion to create natural gas to power farm equipment and energy for the farm to cut down on costs to operate. The focus of WM is the be as environmentally friendly and beneficial to the communities that WM facilities reside in as possible. Lowering carbon footprints, by not only converting the gases from the landfill to power homes, but WM also has the largest compressed natural gas (CNG) operated fleet of trash trucks in the industry as well. Chief Operating Officer John Morris said, “We’re going to continue to buy predominately CNG where the opportunity exists.” WM is growing towards 80% of its collection fleet operating on CNG systems. The cost of the system setup is worth the return, Morris stating that he’s likely to spend at least $2.5 billion to date on CNG fleet and $300 million on infrastructure, installing CNG stations around the country. 55% of the WM CNG trucks are using RNG gases now as well, utilizing the materials available cutting down on cost, and reducing fleet emissions by 36% since 2010 (Rachal, 2021). These collection systems and the way WM structures its stance on the importance of sustainability is a focus that competitors such as Junk King, Waste Connections, and Republic Services are trailing behind. WM collections competitor Junk King is the #1 rated Junk Removal Service in North America with over 110 locally owned franchises in 32 states and Canada (Junk King, 2023). Junk King is a clean-up company and dumpster rental company, they will recycle as much of the waste as they can, however, they do not own any disposal facilities. Junk King relies on third- party places such as WM post-collection sites to dispose of materials. WM does not offer in- person cleanup such as a service Junk King offers, but WM does rent out dumpsters. Junk King does not run its truck fleet off anything other than fossil fuels, so they are not revolutionizing the
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Week 3 – Final Project Milestone 1 4 sustainability stance or taking opportunities to be more environmentally conscious with their fleet such as WM has done with its CNG fleet. Junk King’s revenue is roughly $1.4 million per year (GoSite team, 2023). Junk Kings ratios are a little harder to come by because they are a privately owned company, however, the available details, there is room for improvement with their fleet and finances that could make them more of a competitor against WM. Looking at Junk King from a collections side of things, they are a competitor for WM’s collection, offering more personal services than what WM offers, however, looking at WM's competitor on the post-collections side, Republic Services, they have collections, and post-collections facilities that will be more comparable. Republic Services operates roughly 2,500 CNG vehicles and 38 natural refueling stations, they are the 8 th largest vocational fleet in the country, and WM is leading that pack of the CNG conversions for its fleet (Skenandore, 2023). From an RNG standpoint, Republic might have the leg up on WM, as they have partnered with Archaea to build approximately 39 RNG facilities at their landfills that will convert the gases produced to renewable energy. They plan to have this completed by 2027 and the long-term goal is to beneficially reuse 50% more biogas by 2030 (Republic Services Media, 2023). Republic might be leading the way from an RNG standpoint, they have done it by partnering with another energy company to lead, whereas WM has their RNG team that is operating their facilities. Republic Services is also a Fortune 500 company, ranking at 309 on the list with $13.5 million in revenue, a valuation of $42.7 million, and profits of $1.5 million. They have roughly 40K employees as well, following closely behind WM. WM and Republic are the only two Waste Management companies on the Fortune 500 list (50 Pros, 2023). They are close
Week 3 – Final Project Milestone 1 5 competitors. Looking at their profits and revenue, they are close, as Republic was only $6 million behind in revenue from 2022 according to 50 Pros. When comparing the two, looking at their current ratios, WM has a current ratio of .84 (WM, 2023), and Republic has a current ratio of .70 (Macrotrends, 2023). The current ratio tells us that WM has eight times more current assets than liabilities to cover its debts, and Republic has seven times more current assets than liabilities. Republic Services and WM have volatilities of 4.41% and 4.57%, indicating that both stocks experience similar levels of price fluctuations. This shows the risk associated with both stocks, as measured by volatility is nearly the same. Overall, in comparing WM to Junk King, the comparison is vague because Junk King is a privately owned business, so the review was minimal. Comparing WM to Republic Service was a better fit, as the comparison was fairer, as both companies have the same lines of business such as collections, post-collections, and RNG. The difference is that WM builds and has its RNG line of business and Republic Services relies on another company they partner with to assist with running its RNG facilities. Keeping all the jobs in-house and having multiple lines of business can be a strength and a weakness. Keeping them in-house makes it easier to build relations and keep track of the spending and revenue, whereas subbing the work out to a third party, the businesses must build trust and rely on each other for financial data, that doesn’t always get relayed promptly for business making decisions quickly if need be. However, subbing work out could be beneficial in the manner of it eliminates extra work and things that need to be kept up with because someone else is going to keep books on the subbed line of business. WM and Republic Services compete, being the only two waste management companies on the Fortune 500 list, building sustainable, renewable energy plants, and building the CNG fleets to eliminate emissions and costs.
Week 3 – Final Project Milestone 1 6 References: 50 Pros. 2023. List of Fortune 500 Companies. Retrieved on December 24, 2023, from https://www.50pros.com/fortune500 GoSite Team. August 14, 2023. What You Should Know Before Starting a Junk Removal Business. Retrieved on December 24, 2023, from https://www.gosite.com/blog/starting- junk-removal-business#:~:text=With%20the%20average%20revenue%20for,)%2C %20and%20shifting%20consumer%20habits . Junk King. 2023. Responsible Junk Removal Services for Businesses Big and Small. Retrieved on December 24, 2023, from https://www.junk-king.com/services/b2b/national- accounts#:~:text=Today%2C%20Junk%20King%20is%20the,in%2032%20states %20and%20Canada . Macrotrends. 2023. Republic Services Financial Rations for Analysis 2009-2023 | RSG Retried on December 24, 2023, from https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/RSG/republic- services/financial-ratios Rachel, Maria. June 2, 2021. Waste Management Looks to Suprass 80% CNG Collection Fleet. Retrieved on December 24, 2023, from https://www.wastedive.com/news/waste- management-cng-electric-sustainable-fleets/601037/ Republic Services Media Relations. 2023. Republic Services and Archaea Energy Launch Landmark Joint Ventures to Develop 39 New Renewable Natural Gas Projects Across U.S. Retrieved on December 24, 2023, from https://media.republicservices.com/2022-05- 05-Republic-Services-and-Archaea-Energy-Launch-Landmark-Joint-Venture-to- Develop-39-New-Renewable-Natural-Gas-Projects-Across-U-S
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Week 3 – Final Project Milestone 1 7 Republic Services, Inc. 2023. 10-K For Republic Services, Inc. Retrieved on December 24, 2023, from https://investor.republicservices.com/static-files/adae82ee-ca67-45d8-8e85- a7014d1bd022 Waste Today. 2023. WM Drops the Waste. Retrieved on December 24, 2023, from https://www.wastetodaymagazine.com/news/wm-waste-management-name-change-fish- sustainability-recycling/#:~:text=Jim%20Fish%2C%20the%20president%20and,than %20a%20waste%20management%20company.%E2%80%9D Waste Today. 2023. WM Opens $35M RNG Facility in Arkansas. Retrieved on December 24, 2023, from https://www.wastetodaymagazine.com/news/wm-opens-35m-rng-facility-in- sprindale-arkansas/ WM Intellectual Property Holdings, LLC. 2023. Landfill Gas-to-Energy. Retrieved on December 24, 2023, from https://www.wm.com/us/en/fairless-landfill/renewable-natural-gas-project WM. 2023. Annual Report – 10K. Retrieved on December 24, 2023, from https://investors.wm.com/static-files/3bbb4e9d-812b-4a99-87a9-db600206f1a2 WM. 2023. Financial Statements – Ratios. Retrieved on December 24, 2023, from https://investors.wm.com/financial-information/fundamentals/ratios