WCN vs RSG Comparison: AI Score, Valuation, Performance and Upside
Compare Waste Connections' exclusive-market, secondary-market strategy against Republic Services' broader national footprint and pricing power.
Use this Waste Connections vs Republic Services comparison to evaluate the key differences across valuation, growth, profitability, and risk before making an investment decision.
WCN holds the edge across 3 of 5 key metrics in this comparison. RSG has delivered stronger 1-year price return (+18.12% vs +12.95%), though WCN has the better forward P/E setup (26.43x vs 29.79x for RSG). On fundamentals, WCN is growing revenue faster (6.40%), while RSG maintains the higher operating margin (20.43%) — a classic growth-versus-profitability split. Analyst consensus implies meaningfully more upside for WCN (+22.25%) than for RSG (+1.30%).
Human Wall Street analysts' price targets, typically implying a ~12-month view — a separate signal from this site's own AI Prediction Signal further down the page, which is a 5-/30-day machine-learning forecast based on price history alone.
| Metric | WCN | RSG |
|---|---|---|
| AI scorei | 53.2 | 50.5 |
| AI ranki | #368 | #528 |
| Latest closei | $188.17 | $245.97 |
| 1M returni | +22.33% | +17.37% |
| 3M returni | +12.37% | +17.34% |
| 6M returni | +17.67% | +19.08% |
| 1Y returni | +12.95% | +18.12% |
How much would $10,000 be worth today if invested at the start of each period, with all dividends reinvested?
| Period | WCN | RSG |
|---|---|---|
| 1Y ago | $11.5K (+15.0%) started 2025-11-03 | $11.98K (+19.8%) started 2025-11-03 |
| 5Y ago | $14.99K (+49.9%) started 2021-11-03 | $20.36K (+103.6%) started 2021-11-03 |
| 10Y ago | $43.95K (+339.5%) started 2016-11-03 | $64.6K (+546.0%) started 2016-11-03 |
Hypothetical — past performance does not guarantee future results.
| Metric | WCN | RSG |
|---|---|---|
| Market capi | $41.28B | $73.63B |
| Trailing P/Ei | 39.54 | 34.11 |
| Forward P/Ei | 26.43 | 29.79 |
| Price/Salesi | N/A | 4.89 |
| EV/Revenuei | 5.21 | 5.20 |
| Analyst targeti | $200.60 | $243.58 |
| Target upsidei | +22.25% | +1.30% |
| Metric | WCN | RSG |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue growthi | 6.40% | 4.60% |
| Earnings growthi | 4.40% | 5.10% |
| EPS growthi | +4.40% | +5.10% |
| FCF margini | +10.74% | +11.50% |
| Operating margini | 19.70% | 20.43% |
| Profit margini | 10.86% | 12.94% |
| ROIC proxyi | 13.03% | 18.15% |
| Return on equityi | 13.03% | 18.15% |
| Dividend yieldi | 0.85% | 1.11% |
| Payout ratioi | 31.39% | 35.25% |
| Dividend growth streaki | No increase yet | No increase yet |
| Betai | 0.48 | 0.40 |
| Debt/equityi | 121.68 | 118.80 |
| Current ratioi | 0.66 | 0.64 |
| Quick ratioi | 0.55 | 0.58 |
Over the past year, WCN and RSG have moved strongly in the same direction (correlation of 0.78), based on daily returns.
Lower drawdown and smaller single-period drops generally indicate a smoother ride, though they do not guarantee lower future risk.
| Period | Metric | WCN | RSG |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1Y | Growthi | +14.26% | +19.82% |
| CAGRi | +14.31% | +19.89% | |
| Volatilityi | 25.49% | 20.28% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.48 | 0.78 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 0.76 | 1.24 | |
| Max drawdowni | 16.17% | 14.87% | |
| Current drawdowni | 0.00% | 0.00% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 6.96% | 5.36% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 8.18% | 6.57% | |
| Max daily dropi | 8.22% | 3.46% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 6.86% | 5.43% | |
| 5Y | Growthi | +44.71% | +94.38% |
| CAGRi | +7.68% | +14.22% | |
| Volatilityi | 20.42% | 18.68% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.25 | 0.57 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 0.36 | 0.81 | |
| Max drawdowni | 24.90% | 23.38% | |
| Current drawdowni | 4.97% | 4.69% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 7.89% | 7.10% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 10.01% | 9.47% | |
| Max daily dropi | 8.22% | 5.82% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 10.36% | 9.09% | |
| 10Y | Growthi | +308.18% | +455.27% |
| CAGRi | +15.11% | +18.70% | |
| Volatilityi | 20.21% | 19.41% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.58 | 0.75 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 0.84 | 1.06 | |
| Max drawdowni | 31.59% | 34.02% | |
| Current drawdowni | 4.97% | 4.69% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 5.76% | 5.45% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 8.14% | 8.16% | |
| Max daily dropi | 10.50% | 12.81% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 17.97% | 17.30% |
| Category | WCN | RSG |
|---|---|---|
| Company | WCN | RSG |
| Sector | Industrials | Industrials |
| Industry | Waste Management | Waste Management |
| Core business | Waste Connections, Inc. provides non-hazardous waste collection, transfer, and disposal services in the United States and Canada. | Republic Services, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, offers environmental services in the United States and Canada. |
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