Waste Connections, Inc. key statistics and ratios

In fiscal 2025, Waste Connections, Inc. had return on equity of 13.4%, an operating margin of 18.1%, debt equal to 107.8% of equity and a current ratio of 0.62. Each ratio below is calculated from the figures on its income statement, balance sheet and cash flow pages.

Financial ratios

US$ thousands unless shown otherwise. Fiscal years, plus the last twelve months (LTM) when newer.

Waste Connections, Inc.: financial ratios, annual
Fiscal year	2010Dec 2010	2011Dec 2011	2012Dec 2012	2013Dec 2013	2014Dec 2014	2015Dec 2015	2016Dec 2016	2017Dec 2017	2018Dec 2018	2019Dec 2019	2020Dec 2020	2021Dec 2021	2022Dec 2022	2023Dec 2023	2024Dec 2024	2025Dec 2025	LTMSept 2026
Gross margin	—	—	—	—	43.3%	38.9%	42.0%	41.6%	41.8%	40.6%	39.8%	40.6%	39.9%	40.9%	41.8%	42.4%	42.6%
Operating margin	12.9%	−4.8%	12.5%	11.5%	22.4%	−3.2%	13.4%	13.5%	16.9%	15.5%	7.6%	16.9%	17.2%	15.4%	12.0%	18.1%	17.7%
Net margin	5.2%	−10.7%	5.0%	5.8%	11.6%	−5.0%	7.3%	12.5%	11.1%	10.5%	3.8%	10.0%	11.6%	9.5%	6.9%	11.4%	11.4%
Free-cash-flow margin	13.7%	15.4%	8.2%	12.0%	10.8%	19.7%	13.3%	15.3%	17.6%	16.8%	14.9%	15.5%	15.4%	14.9%	13.2%	13.0%	12.6%
Return on equity	4.5%	−13.3%	7.4%	9.2%	18.5%	−6.0%	6.5%	9.7%	8.6%	8.5%	3.0%	8.9%	11.9%	10.3%	7.9%	13.4%	14.1%
Return on assets	2.2%	−6.1%	2.9%	3.4%	5.4%	−1.9%	3.0%	5.0%	4.4%	4.3%	1.5%	4.3%	5.3%	4.4%	3.3%	5.3%	5.3%
Asset turnover	0.42	0.57	0.58	0.59	0.47	0.37	0.42	0.40	0.40	0.41	0.39	0.43	0.45	0.46	0.47	0.46	0.47
Current ratio	0.83	0.88	1.02	1.00	0.89	0.96	1.07	1.47	1.23	1.12	1.37	0.84	0.74	0.68	0.65	0.62	0.67
Debt to equity	76.5%	101.5%	132.7%	120.1%	126.8%	108.7%	64.3%	62.6%	64.4%	63.1%	69.3%	73.0%	98.0%	88.6%	103.7%	107.8%	120.6%
Interest cover (operating income ÷ interest)	3.8x	n/m	4.1x	3.8x	6.9x	n/m	4.9x	5.0x	6.3x	5.7x	2.5x	6.4x	6.1x	4.5x	3.3x	5.1x	4.9x
Effective tax rate	40.3%	—	41.6%	33.2%	39.5%	—	31.6%	−13.6%	22.6%	19.7%	19.7%	19.8%	20.3%	22.4%	19.2%	24.1%	22.3%
SG&A as % of revenue	13.5%	11.9%	12.2%	12.6%	11.4%	12.3%	14.0%	11.0%	10.7%	10.1%	9.9%	10.0%	9.7%	10.0%	9.9%	10.1%	10.0%
Capital spending as % of revenue	6.8%	6.1%	9.5%	10.3%	9.1%	10.3%	10.2%	10.4%	11.1%	11.8%	11.0%	12.1%	12.7%	11.6%	11.8%	12.5%	12.9%
Free cash flow ÷ net income	264.8%	—	165.8%	205.6%	93.3%	—	182.8%	122.7%	158.2%	159.9%	396.5%	154.3%	132.8%	156.4%	189.9%	114.7%	110.3%
Dividends ÷ net income	65.8%	—	67.3%	54.0%	27.3%	—	37.5%	22.9%	27.9%	30.9%	97.7%	35.6%	29.1%	35.5%	48.9%	31.0%	31.4%
Dividends and buybacks ÷ free cash flow	24.9%	49.5%	82.5%	26.3%	32.6%	38.9%	20.5%	18.6%	24.4%	19.3%	37.7%	58.6%	60.2%	22.7%	25.8%	68.0%	109.1%

US$ thousands unless shown otherwise. Fiscal quarters.

Waste Connections, Inc.: financial ratios, quarterly
Quarter	2024 Q4Dec 2024	2025 Q1Mar 2025	2025 Q2Jun 2025	2025 Q3Sept 2025	2025 Q4Dec 2025	2026 Q1Mar 2026	2026 Q2Jun 2026	2026 Q3Sept 2026
Gross margin	41.4%	42.0%	42.1%	42.8%	42.5%	42.6%	42.3%	43.1%
Operating margin	−8.8%	17.5%	19.1%	17.9%	17.7%	15.4%	17.1%	20.5%
Net margin	−8.7%	10.8%	12.1%	11.6%	10.9%	9.3%	11.6%	13.6%
Free-cash-flow margin	7.6%	14.8%	14.7%	15.5%	7.3%	10.5%	16.8%	15.1%
Current ratio	0.65	0.70	0.67	0.67	0.62	0.69	0.66	0.67
Debt to equity	102.7%	104.7%	99.8%	106.5%	106.9%	112.9%	117.2%	119.6%
SG&A as % of revenue	9.3%	11.2%	10.1%	9.6%	9.7%	10.6%	10.2%	9.6%

Returns use average equity or assets over the year. Return on equity is left blank when equity is negative or so small that the ratio says nothing (above ±200%); interest cover is left blank above 200 times. Price-based ratios such as P/E are on the valuation page.

Financial health

1 of 7 checks passed · September 30, 2026

What it owns · $21.5bn

Short-term assets $1.4bnLonger-term assets $20.1bn

What it owes, and who funded it · $21.5bn

Short-term liabilities $2.2bnLonger-term liabilities $11.5bnShareholders' equity $7.9bn

Short-term assets cover short-term liabilities $1.4bn of assets due within a year against $2.2bn of liabilities due within a year.
Short-term assets cover long-term liabilities $1.4bn short-term assets against $11.5bn of longer-dated liabilities.
More cash than debt $96m of cash against $9.4bn of debt.
Debt below 40% of shareholders' equity Debt is 120% of equity.
Debt burden no higher than five years ago Debt to equity moved from 86% to 120% over five years.
A year's operating cash flow covers at least 20% of debt $2.5bn of operating cash flow against $9.4bn of debt.
Operating profit covers interest at least five times over Operating income of $1.8bn against $362m of interest.

From Waste Connections, Inc.'s latest balance sheet as filed. Checks are fixed, documented rules (methodology), counted only where the company reports the figures — a dot means the filing doesn't break the item out. Descriptions of reported data, not advice.

Moat

78 /100

Strong moat

How hard Waste Connections's competitive advantage looks for rivals to wear away, judged from 10 years of its own filings: returns on capital, pricing power, profit durability, cash conversion and discipline.

Returns on capital 17 / 20

Cash operating profit has been a median 13.1% of total assets over 10 years.
Pricing power 14 / 20

Gross margin has been a median 41.2%, moving by 0.9 percentage points (standard deviation) across 10 years.
Durability 11 / 20

Operating margin has been a median 16.7%; its worst year was 7.6%.
Cash conversion 18 / 20

Free cash flow was positive in 10 of 10 years, at a median 15.0% of revenue.
Discipline 18 / 20

The diluted share count fell 3.0% over five years; stock-based pay has been a median 0.8% of revenue.

AI disruption exposure: Low. In this industry, the business rests on physical assets, regulated networks or products AI itself depends on.

A rules-based reading of reported figures, not a forecast and not investment advice. How the score is built: methodology.

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Figures from Waste Connections, Inc.'s SEC filings (10-K and 10-Q), retrieved October 31, 2026. How we read and check them: methodology and data sources. Not investment advice. Back to Waste Connections, Inc.