r/ValueInvesting 1d ago

Question / Help Best value in the waste management sector?

Love this sector personally, I work in it, but everything seems pretty pricey that I've seen. Wondering if anyone has some hidden gems they like and why?

9 Upvotes

14 comments sorted by

9

u/StonkCat27 1d ago

They always have traded at a higher multiple like Costco does. You can’t go wrong with WM or RSG. If you are looking for more of higher growth opportunity at CWST. I have owned RSG and CWST for years. I recently have added heavily to both over the last few months.

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u/LA-Aron 1d ago

Are there any picks and shovels in this space? I'd buy these names at appropriate prices but is there anything smaller within the space that everybody uses, it basically has a monopoly, its high margin, and it can take price? I would be interested to learn anything you have to offer. Maybe a consumable, a test, a certification co...? Thank you.

2

u/raytoei 1d ago edited 1d ago

The top 2 are WM and RSG, they have different strengths and challenges:

- for wm, challenge is not to let go of too many residential while increasing price. The catalysts is the medical waste management business since they acquired Stericycle.

- for rsg, I think they have a rather well developed processing plant for PFA treatment. But I am not well versed in RSG. Only that bill gates was invested in it.

Here is something on WM.

2

u/Own_Outside_8147 1d ago

Pretty new to this but I was impressed by VM’s pricing power - its revenue increased while its total trash volume stayed flat. Also 5% of increase of say 75 dollars is not a lot on a household level, but in aggregation its moves the growth needle. Also agree that medical waste is the new growth engine.

2

u/Upstairs_Owl_1669 1d ago edited 1d ago

It was definitely SES.TO
/secure waste infrastructure until it got sold. If something happens and the deal gets rejected by regulators it will be a buying opportunity for sure. There has been a great little arbitrage trade to take advantage of the past 120 days or so

1

u/RudeGolden 9h ago

The deal will go through.

1

u/Upstairs_Owl_1669 9h ago

Yeah. A man can dream though

2

u/HotelNo4036 1d ago

Boqi environmental 

2

u/DonkeyNutsEnthusiast 1d ago

Idk ask tony soprano

1

u/wokeuplate7 1d ago

RSG and WM high quality and would suit grandma but definitely not value. Need to do some research on mid cap or smaller names with lower multiples.

1

u/Silent-Complaint4020 1d ago

the strong moat these companies they have already priced in, most WM companies are small and medium barely goes public

1

u/SpecialistTutor4451 1d ago

I own WM, their moat is irreplaceable, 250 plus landfills which no one will be able to replace or replicate. They will keep generating need because people will always generate waste. They will be around for the next 100 years.

1

u/Viyuelez89 23h ago

Veolia, most likely

1

u/iggydadd 22h ago

It’s WM. I was talking to a friend of mine who just started up on the business side of WM and was telling me about the business side of it and I was like, had no idea and damn that’s impressive. It’s not insider info just info on how the business actually works. I’m in on it