Casella finishes 2024 strong

Casella Waste Systems Inc. has reported strong revenue growth in the fourth quarter of 2024, driven by newly closed acquisitions along with the rollover impact from acquisitions closed in prior periods, collection and disposal price growth and higher recycling commodity volumes and prices.

In its Q4 earnings report, Casella reported revenues of $427.5 million for the fourth quarter of 2024, an 18.9 percent increase from the same period in 2023. The Rutland, Vermont-based regional solid waste, recycling and resource management services company reported $1.6 billion in revenues for the fiscal year 2024, up 23.1 percent from the fiscal year 2023.

Casella’s adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) was $95 million for the quarter, up $12.8 million or 15.6 percent from the same period in 2023. For the fiscal year 2024, adjusted EBITDA was $360.6 million, up 22.4 percent from the year prior.

The company acquired eight businesses in fiscal year 2024, with more than $200 million in annualized revenues. Year-to-date in 2025, Casella has acquired three businesses with approximately $40 million in annualized revenues.

“We finished the year strong, reporting records yet again across our key financial metrics in 2024, with growth of over 20 percent in revenues, adjusted EBITDA and adjusted free cash flow,” says John W. Casella, chairman and CEO of Casella Waste Systems. “Our consistent execution against clear operating and growth strategies have yielded consistently strong results, year after year.”

Operating income was $18.5 million for the quarters, up 38.7 percent from the same period in 2023, driven by stronger operating results and a favorable year-over-year comparison to a charge related to a landfill capping veneer failure in 2023, according to the report.

Adjusted free cash flow for 2024 was $158.3 million, up $30 million from 2023. Net cash provided by operating activities was $281.4 million for fiscal year 2024, up 20.7 percent from 2023.

The eight acquired businesses in 2024 include Royal Carting Service Co. and Welsh Sanitation Services, sister companies based in New York, Whitetail Disposal Inc., Perkiomenville, Pennsylvania, and LMR Disposal LLC, Phillipsburg, New Jersey, which Casella says further strengthen the company’s operating capabilities in the Mid-Atlantic markets and helped the company enter a “strategically attractive adjacency” in the Hudson Valley region of New York.

"We have started the year strong on the growth front already in 2025 … filling in our service territory in Maryland and Pennsylvania and adding synergistic overlap in eastern Massachusetts,” Casella says.

The company provided updated guidance for fiscal year 2025 by estimating results in the following ranges:

• Revenues between $1.775 billion and $1.805 billion
• Net income between $10 million and $25 million
• Adjusted EBITDA between $410 million and $425 million
• Net cash provided by operating activities between $320 million and $335 million
• Adjusted free cash flow between $165 million and $180 million

In 2025 the company will celebrate the 50th anniversary of Casella, which began in 1975 with one truck in Rutland, Vermont, and has now grown to over 5,000 employees with operations in 10 states.

“This milestone represents an opportunity to reflect on all that our team has accomplished, and what we have built together, and also look forward with excitement to the tremendous growth opportunities that lie ahead,” Casella says.