Waste Connections, Inc. provides non-hazardous waste collection, transfer, and disposal services in the United States and Canada. It offers collection services to residential, commercial, municipal, industrial, and exploration and production (E&P) customers; landfill disposal services; and recycling services for various recyclable materials, including compost, cardboard, mixed paper, plastic containers, glass bottles, and ferrous and aluminum metals. The company owns and …
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Competitive advantage assessment
Key strengths
Margins Consistently Above PeersGross margin at 42.4% (top 12%) and operating margin at 18.1% (top 6%) indicate strong pricing power.
ROIC Sustainably Above PeersROIC at 81.2th percentile exceeds peers and WACC, demonstrating superior capital allocation.
Key risks
Liquidity ConcernsLiquidity is concerning (score 0.19), raising questions about short-term obligations.
The dashed ring is the peer median. Defense scores are percentile ranks
against peers, so 50 is roughly the typical company in this group.
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Waste Connections, Inc. ranks #3 of 19
scored companies in Waste Management by moat score — the top 16%.
The widest moat in the group is Republic Services, Inc. (RSG)
at 88/100.
Moat scores for companies ranked near WCN in Waste Management
Pricing power is the ability to raise prices without losing volume.
Cost Advantage
Score 94
· 15% of the moat score
A cost advantage means delivering the same product for structurally less — better purchasing, denser distribution, a more automated process.
Customer Stickiness
Score 94
· 15% of the moat score
Stickiness is what makes revenue repeat without being re-won every year.
Capital Efficiency
Score 82
· 18% of the moat score
Capital efficiency asks what the company earns on the money tied up in the business.
Resilience
Score 57
· 17% of the moat score
Resilience is the capacity to get through a bad year on its own terms — enough liquidity, enough interest cover, and enough cash generation to avoid a rescue financing or a forced sale.
Scale & Market Position
Score 72
· 15% of the moat score
Scale matters only when it converts into economics.
Waste Connections, Inc. (WCN) scores 79 out of 100 on the StatsAlpha Moat Map, which rates its competitive advantage as strong. It ranks #3 of 19 scored companies in Waste Management, the top 16%. The score is a weighted composite of 6 competitive defenses, each measured against industry peers of 18 companies in Waste Management. Its strongest defense is Cost Advantage (94/100) and its weakest is Resilience (57/100).
How does Waste Connections, Inc. compare with other Waste Management companies?
Waste Connections, Inc. ranks #3 of 19 scored companies in Waste Management by moat score. The widest moat in Waste Management is Republic Services, Inc. (RSG) at 88/100. The companies ranked closest are Waste Management, Inc. (WM) at 81 just above it and Clean Harbors, Inc. (CLH) at 76 just below it.
How is the moat score calculated?
Each company is scored with an industry-specific template — Corporate Default in this case, chosen because the defenses that matter to a bank are not the ones that matter to a software company. Every defense combines several financial signals, and each signal is measured as a percentile against a peer group of 18 companies in Waste Management. The defenses are then weighted to produce the overall score out of 100.
Why is Waste Connections, Inc. scored with the Corporate Default template?
Most public companies sell a product or a service at a margin, so the moat question is whether that margin survives contact with competitors. The Corporate template scores the six defenses that show up in a general operating company's financial signature: whether it can hold price, produce more cheaply than rivals, keep its customers, earn a return above its cost of capital, withstand a downturn, and turn size into economics.
Which competitive defenses are measured for Waste Connections, Inc.?
The Corporate Default template measures 6 defenses, and WCN scores: Pricing Power (75), Cost Advantage (94), Customer Stickiness (94), Capital Efficiency (82), Resilience (57), Scale & Market Position (72). Each is scored independently as a percentile against peers, so a company can be strong on one and weak on another — the overall score reflects how those defenses are weighted for this industry.
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