Robust Income from Operations Growth in the Quarter Drives More Than 33% Increase in Net Cash Provided by Operating Activities

WM Releases 2025 Sustainability Report, Highlighting the Company’s Investments in Advancing Innovative Environmental Solutions

HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jul. 28, 2025-- WM (NYSE: WM) today announced financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2025.

“As we described at our recent Investor Day, WM is building distinctive platforms to drive competitive differentiation and fuel a powerful, long-term growth engine to create shareholder value. Our second quarter results are a strong demonstration of our progress on all fronts,” said Jim Fish, WM’s CEO. “Our Collection and Disposal business produced robust organic revenue growth and margin expansion, achieving the Company’s best-ever operating expense margin. We also grew operating EBITDA by double digits in both our Recycling Processing and Sales and WM Renewable Energy segments, as the earnings contributions from investments we have made in our sustainability businesses accelerate. Additionally, we continue to integrate our newest segment, WM Healthcare Solutions, and benefit from the impact of WM’s culture and operational excellence on customer relationships, cost efficiency, and financial results.”

Fish continued, “We released our 2025 Sustainability Report, We’re Driving Sustainability, earlier this month, highlighting our progress toward our sustainability ambitions, including an impressive 22% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions since 2021. We’re proud of the work our team is doing to advance a more sustainable future for our communities and the environment.”

KEY HIGHLIGHTS FOR THE SECOND QUARTER OF 2025

• Adjusted operating EBITDA for the WM Legacy Business grew 12.1% and margin was 31.3%.^(a) The Company’s Collection and Disposal business led the way with an adjusted margin of 37.9% driven by organic revenue growth, continued cost discipline, and optimized business mix.^(a) The Company’s Recycling Processing and Sales and WM Renewable Energy businesses together contributed $36 million to adjusted operating EBITDA growth, primarily due to sustainability growth projects.^(a)(f)
• WM Healthcare Solutions contributed $110 million of adjusted operating EBITDA, in line with expectations.^(a) The Company is on track to achieve the upper end of its targeted synergies of $80 to $100 million in 2025.

• Revenue growth of 7.1% in the WM Legacy Business was driven by core price of 6.4% and Collection and Disposal yield of 4.1% as the Company continues its focus on customer lifetime value.^(e)
• Volumes in the Collection and Disposal business grew 1.6% as compared to the second quarter of 2024, with robust growth in landfill volumes more than offsetting the Company’s loss of a relatively large residential contract.

• Adjusted operating expenses as a percentage of revenue for the WM Legacy Business improved 150 basis points, reflecting the margin benefits of additional landfill volumes as well as the Company’s disciplined cost focus, demonstrated by improved driver turnover and safety performance, routing technology benefits, the strategic exit from low-margin residential collection business, and the benefit of capital investments made in the fleet.^(a)

• Adjusted SG&A results in the WM Legacy Business demonstrate the Company’s commitment to cost discipline. The slight increase in SG&A margin compared to the prior year quarter is primarily related to intentional spending to support technology and optimization initiatives.
• SG&A as a percentage of revenue for WM Healthcare Solutions improved 200 basis points sequentially, or 270 basis points on an adjusted basis, reflecting the contribution of synergies from the Company’s efforts to integrate and streamline its sales and back-office processes.^(a)

Cash Flow and Investments

• Through the first six months of the year, the Company generated $2.75 billion of net cash provided by operating activities, driven by strong operating EBITDA growth partially offset by higher cash interest related primarily to the funding of the Stericycle acquisition.
• Free cash flow in the first half of the year was $1.29 billion, driven by robust operating EBITDA growth partially offset by a planned increase in capital expenditures.^(a)

Sustainability and WM Healthcare Solutions Update

• The Company continues to progress its strategic investments in recycling and renewable natural gas facilities that drive economic and environmental value. During the quarter, three growth projects commenced operations, including a new renewable natural gas facility in Illinois, a recycling automation project in Pennsylvania and a new market recycling facility in Oregon. These additions bring total renewable natural gas projects completed to eight out of 20 planned facilities and total recycling automation and new market projects completed to 29 out of 39 planned.
• Integration of WM Healthcare Solutions continues to advance, and as announced during the June Investor Day, the Company has identified $50 million of operating EBITDA opportunities from cross-selling solid waste and medical waste solutions to existing customers, with $11 million of annualized operating EBITDA already secured. Including the cross-selling opportunities, anticipated run-rate synergies are expected to total $300 million of operating EBITDA by 2027.

2025 Outlook

With two quarters of the year complete, the Company is confident in its ability to deliver upon its full-year outlook for adjusted operating EBITDA and is positioned to deliver free cash flow in excess of its initial target.

• The Company delivered adjusted operating EBITDA in the first six months of the year in line with its expectations and initial guidance. The Company is affirming its adjusted operating EBITDA guidance midpoint of $7.550 billion and narrowing its range slightly to $7.475 and $7.625 billion.^(a)
• Free cash flow is now projected to be between $2.8 and $2.9 billion, an increase of $125 million from the Company’s initial guidance.^(a) The increase in the free cash flow outlook is driven by recently enacted tax policy that restores bonus depreciation to 100%.
• Total Company revenue is now expected to be between $25.275 and $25.475 billion. The decrease from prior expectations is primarily related to the recent decline in recycled commodity prices which has an outsized impact on the Company’s low-margin recycling brokerage business, as well as the impacts of a decline in certain Collection and Disposal volumes in the first quarter of 2025 due to the particularly harsh winter weather.^(g)
• Adjusted operating EBITDA margin is now expected to be between 29.6% and 29.9%, an increase from the prior guidance of between 29.2% and 29.7%.^(a)

Fish concluded, “We set a high bar in 2025, and through the first half of the year we have met those high expectations. Our team is focused on serving our customers, optimizing our costs, and innovating to support differentiation and growth. Executing on these priorities is expected to drive strong results in the back half of 2025 and position us to deliver on our guidance, achieve attractive returns on investments and grow shareholder value.”

The Company will host a conference call at 10 a.m. ET on July 29, 2025, to discuss the Second Quarter 2025 results. Information contained within this press release will be referenced and should be considered in conjunction with the call.

Listeners can access a live audio webcast of the conference call by visiting investors.wm.com and selecting “Events & Presentations” from the website menu. A replay of the audio webcast will be available at the same location following the conclusion of the call.

Conference call participants should register to obtain their dial in and passcode details. This streamlined process improves security and eliminates wait times when joining the call.

ABOUT WM

WM (WM.com) is North America's leading provider of comprehensive environmental solutions. Previously known as Waste Management and based in Houston, Texas, WM is driven by commitments to put people first and achieve success with integrity. The company, through its subsidiaries, provides collection, recycling and disposal services to millions of residential, commercial, industrial, medical and municipal customers throughout the U.S. and Canada. With innovative infrastructure and capabilities in recycling, organics and renewable energy, WM provides environmental solutions to and collaborates with its customers in helping them pursue their sustainability goals. In North America, WM has the largest disposal network and collection fleet, is the largest recycler and is a leader in beneficial use of landfill gas, with a growing network of renewable natural gas plants and the most landfill gas-to-electricity plants, as well as the largest heavy-duty natural gas truck fleet in the industry. WM Healthcare Solutions provides collection and disposal services of regulated medical waste and secure information destruction services in the U.S., Canada and Western Europe. To learn more about WM and the company's sustainability progress and solutions, visit Sustainability.WM.com.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

The Company, from time to time, provides estimates or projections of financial and other data, comments on expectations relating to future periods and makes statements of opinion, view or belief about current and future events, circumstances or performance. This press release contains a number of such forward-looking statements, including all statements under the heading “2025 Outlook” and all statements regarding future performance and results of our business; achievement of targets, financial guidance or outlook; growth and optimization of our business; integration of the Stericycle business (which is reported as the WM Healthcare Solutions segment) and related contributions, results and benefits, including amount and timing of synergies; amount and timing of sustainability investments, upgrades and project completions and related returns, contributions, and benefits; future capital allocation and acquisition spending; drivers of performance, including pricing programs and volume; and assumptions regarding commodity prices, natural gas production, tax credits and renewable fuel programs. You should view these statements with caution. They are based on the facts and circumstances known to the Company as of the date the statements are made. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to be materially different from those set forth in such forward-looking statements, including but not limited to, failure to implement our optimization, automation, growth, and cost savings initiatives and overall business strategy; failure to obtain the results anticipated from strategic initiatives, investments, acquisitions, or new lines of business; failure to identify acquisition targets, consummate and integrate acquisitions, including our ability to integrate the acquisition of Stericycle and achieve the anticipated benefits therefrom, including synergies; legal, regulatory and other matters that may affect the costs and timing of our ability to integrate and deliver all of the expected benefits of the Stericycle acquisition; failure to maintain an effective system of internal control over financial reporting; existing or new environmental and other regulations, including developments related to emerging contaminants, gas emissions, renewable energy, extended producer responsibility and our natural gas fleet; significant environmental, safety or other incidents resulting in liabilities or brand damage; failure to obtain and maintain necessary permits due to land scarcity, public opposition or otherwise; diminishing landfill capacity, resulting in increased costs and the need for disposal alternatives; exposure to different regulatory, legal, financial and economic conditions in international jurisdictions; failure to attract, hire and retain key team members and a high quality workforce; increases in labor costs due to union organizing activities or changes in wage- and labor-related regulations; disruption and costs resulting from severe weather and destructive climate events; failure to achieve our sustainability goals or execute on our sustainability-related strategy and initiatives, including within planned timelines or anticipated budgets due to disruptions, delays, cost increases or changes in environmental or tax regulations and incentives; focus on, and regulation of, environmental and sustainability-related disclosures, which could lead to increased costs, risk of non-compliance, brand damage and litigation risk related to our sustainability efforts; macroeconomic conditions, geopolitical conflict and large-scale market disruption resulting in labor, supply chain and transportation constraints, inflationary cost pressures and fluctuations in commodity prices, fuel and other energy costs; increased competition; pricing actions; impacts from international trade restrictions and tariffs; competitive disposal alternatives, diversion of waste from landfills and declining waste volumes; changing conditions in the healthcare industry; weakness in general economic conditions and capital markets; instability of financial institutions; adoption of new tax legislation; fuel shortages; failure to develop and protect new technology; failure of technology to perform as expected; failure to prevent, detect and address cybersecurity incidents or comply with privacy regulations; inability to adapt and manage the benefits and risks of artificial intelligence; negative outcomes of litigation or governmental proceedings, including those acquired through transactions; and operational or management decisions or developments that result in impairment charges. Please also see the Company’s filings with the SEC, including Part I, Item 1A of the Company’s most recently filed Annual Report on Form 10-K, as updated by subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, for additional information regarding these and other risks and uncertainties applicable to its business. The Company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement, including financial estimates and forecasts, whether as a result of future events, circumstances or developments or otherwise.

NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES

To supplement its financial information, the Company has presented, and/or may discuss on the conference call, adjusted measures including adjusted earnings per diluted share, adjusted net income, adjusted income from operations and margin, adjusted operating EBITDA and margin, adjusted operating expense and margin, and adjusted SG&A expenses and margin. All adjusted measures and free cash flow are non-GAAP financial measures, as defined in Regulation G of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. The Company reports its financial results in compliance with GAAP but believes that also discussing non-GAAP measures provides investors with (i) financial measures the Company uses in the management of its business and (ii) additional, meaningful comparisons of current results to prior periods’ results by excluding items that the Company does not believe reflect its fundamental business performance and are not representative or indicative of its results of operations.

In addition, the Company’s projected adjusted operating EBITDA is anticipated to be adjusted to exclude the effects of other events or circumstances that are not representative or indicative of the Company’s results of operations. Such excluded items are not currently determinable, but may be significant, such as asset impairments and one-time items, charges, gains or losses from divestitures or litigation, and other items. Due to the uncertainty of the likelihood, amount and timing of any such items, the Company does not have information available to provide a quantitative reconciliation of such projection to the comparable GAAP measure.

The Company discusses free cash flow and provides a projection of free cash flow because the Company believes that it is indicative of its ability to pay its quarterly dividends, repurchase common stock, fund acquisitions and other investments and, in the absence of refinancings, to repay its debt obligations. The Company believes free cash flow gives investors useful insight into how the Company views its liquidity, but the use of free cash flow as a liquidity measure has material limitations because it excludes certain expenditures that are required or that the Company has committed to, such as declared dividend payments and debt service requirements. The Company defines free cash flow as net cash provided by operating activities, less capital expenditures, plus proceeds from divestitures of businesses and other assets (net of cash divested); this definition may not be comparable to similarly-titled measures reported by other companies.

The quantitative reconciliations of non-GAAP measures to the most comparable GAAP measures are included in the accompanying schedules, with the exception of projected adjusted operating EBITDA. Non-GAAP measures should not be considered a substitute for financial measures presented in accordance with GAAP.