Forensic Analysis · General / Diversified · as of Nov 9, 2026

Waste Management Inc (WM)

A forensic read on Waste Management Inc built from its complete SEC filings — financial-health screens, earnings quality, red flags and a price-aware rating. Reproducible math, not opinion.

B · Sound & dependable

Forensic grade

Grey Zone

Financial health

2.1

Distress distance

Clean

Earnings quality

Forensic signals

29.7%

ROE

14.2%

Revenue growth

This free snapshot doesn't read filing or proxy text, so the auditor-quality and governance checks that can lower a grade were not evaluated (auditor quality, say on pay, board independence, going concern). Those checks only ever lower a grade, so the full analysis can land below the grade above but never above it — treat it as the most favourable reading, not the settled one.

Waste Management Inc earns a B (Sound & dependable) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 2.1, placing it in the Grey zone. 2 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by return on invested capital.

What the filings flag

8.5%

FY2025

Return on invested capital. Return on invested capital is 8.5% in the latest fiscal year and steady across FY2023–FY2025, inside a 1.0-point range. After-tax operating profit was $2.7B in FY2023 and $3.4B in FY2025, with operating income at 17.5% of revenue in FY2023, 18.4% in FY2024 and 17.1% in FY2025. The capital base behind it grew +41% across FY2023–FY2025, from $28.5B to $40.0B, while the return fell 1.0 points, so the dollars added over that window earned less than the 9.5% the older base was already earning.

$184M

FY2023–FY2025

Goodwill impairments. Took $184M of goodwill writedowns across 2 years (FY2023 ($168M), FY2025 ($16M)) — about 2% of net income over the span. Writedowns mean past acquisitions underperformed what was paid for them.

Key fundamentals

Latest Revenue$25.20B

Revenue Growth YoY+14.2%

Revenue CAGR (2yr)+11.1%

Net Margin10.7%

Free Cash Flow$2.82B

Return on Equity29.7%

Debt / Equity2.29x

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Data from SEC EDGAR public filings · metrics as of Nov 9, 2026. Forensic signals flag probability, not certainty.

See a wrong number? Report an error with the filing it should match.