Waste Connections reports Q4 results, closes 24 acquisitions in 2024

Waste Connections, The Woodlands, Texas, has announced its results for the fourth quarter of 2024, reporting a fourth quarter revenue of $2.26 billion, up from $2.036 billion last year.

“Q4 provided a solid finish to a year of extraordinary accomplishments for Waste Connections both financially, with double-digit growth in both revenue and adjusted EBITDA [earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization], and operationally, with accelerating improvements in employee engagement and retention, along with the integration of record levels of private company acquisition activity, which totaled approximately $750 million in annualized revenues in 2024,” Waste Connections President and CEO Ronald J. Mittelstaedt says.

The company reported an operating loss of $199.2 million and a net loss of $196 million in the fourth quarter.

Waste Connections closed its Chiquita Canyon Landfill in Southern California Jan. 1, 2025, and as a result, its Q4 results reflect accounting for the related impacts, including the write-down of $116.1 million in site costs plus an adjustment of $480.8 million to increase its closure and postclosure liabilities.

“This amount includes a full forward of what we would describe as the customary outlays associated with landfill closure and postclosure obligations scheduled to occur over a 30-year period,” Waste Connections Chief Financial Officer Mary Anne Whitney said in an earnings call.

The company has successfully redirected a portion of the waste throughput to one of its landfills in Central California, Mittelstaedt said.

Adjusted net income in the fourth quarter was $300.6 million, or $1.16 per diluted share, up from $285.5 million, or $1.11 per diluted share, in the prior year period. Adjusted EBITDA in the fourth quarter was $731.9 million, as compared to $656 million in the prior year period. Adjusted net income, adjusted net income per diluted share and adjusted EBITDA, all non-GAAP measures, primarily exclude impairments and transaction-related items, Waste Connections says.

2024 results

Waste Connections’ 2024 revenue totaled $8.92 billion, up from $8.022 billion in the previous year.

Operating income was $1.068 billion, which included $613 million in impairments primarily related to the early closure of a landfill and closure and postclosure costs, $26.1 million in transaction-related expenses and $1.6 million in fair value changes to certain equity awards. 

Net income was $617.6 million in 2024, or $2.39 per share on a diluted basis of 258.7 million shares. 

The company had a “record year” of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in 2024, according to Mittelstaedt, having closed 24 acquisitions last year.

“We closed approximately $750 million in annualized revenue from 24 acquisitions, with deals in E&P [earnings and profits] waste and across our footprint of solid waste franchises and competitive markets, including acquisitions that can be internalized into our disposal network, plus new market entries and a number of tuck-ins to existing operations,” he said.

In 2024, adjusted net income was $1.239 billion, or $4.79 per diluted share, as compared to $1.081 billion, or $4.19 per diluted share, in the year ago period. Adjusted EBITDA for 2024 was $2.902 billion, up from $2.523 billion in the prior year period.

Mittelstaedt said the company is seeing traction from higher staffing and frontline training of employees.

“We're sending more new and existing employees through our in-house commercial driver academies and realizing the benefits from that engagement in both improved retention and safety statistics,” he said.

In 2025, Waste Connections estimates revenue to be between $9.45 billion and $9.6 billion and net income to be between $1.186 billion and $1.224 billion. The adjusted EBITDA margin is estimated between 33 percent and 33.3 percent of revenue, up 50 to 80 basis points year over year. Net cash provided by operating activities is estimated to be between $2.5 billion and $2.575 billion, while capital expenditures are estimated to be between $1.2 billion and $1.225 billion, including $100 million to $150 million for RNG facilities. Adjusted free cash flow is estimated between $1.3 billion and $1.35 billion.