HOUSTON, Texas — February 11, 2026 — Leads & Copy —
Waste Connections, Inc. (TSX/NYSE: WCN) has announced its fourth-quarter results for 2025 and its outlook for 2026.
According to President and Chief Executive Officer Ronald J. Mittelstaedt, the company’s adjusted EBITDA margin expanded by 110 basis points in the fourth quarter. He said this capped off a year for Waste Connections that was driven by price-led organic growth in solid waste and strong execution from ongoing improvements in operating trends.
For the full year 2025, the company reported an industry-leading adjusted EBITDA margin of 33.0%, up 100 basis points year over year, excluding the impact of lower commodities. The company also completed another year of above-average acquisition activity, with approximately $330 million in acquired annualized revenue, and returned a record amount to shareholders, including through share repurchases of over $500 million.
Mittelstaedt said that for the third consecutive year, both employee turnover and safety incident rates declined, exiting 2025 at multi-year lows. He said this provides ongoing benefits through cost savings, increased productivity, heightened employee engagement, and improved customer service. Mittelstaedt added that this operating momentum sets up 2026 for another year of outsized underlying solid waste margin expansion, along with upside from any improvement in the broader economy or commodities that are approaching historical cyclical lows.
Mr. Mittelstaedt concluded that the company is pleased by its 2025 results and its positioning for double-digit growth in adjusted free cash flow in 2026. He added that with leverage at 2.75 times, the company’s balance sheet strength continues to provide significant optionality to execute on its strong acquisition pipeline, along with further increases in return of capital to shareholders, while also pursuing technology-driven initiatives supporting continued growth.
Revenue in the fourth quarter totaled $2.373 billion, up from $2.260 billion in the year ago period. Operating income was $420.8 million, which included $39.1 million in impairments and other items primarily related to an environmental liability at an operating facility and $4.3 million primarily in transaction-related expenses. This compares to an operating loss of $199.2 million in the prior year period, which included $602.4 million primarily in impairments related to the early closure of a landfill and adjustments to landfill closure and post-closure costs.
Net income in the fourth quarter was $258.5 million, or $1.01 per share on a diluted basis of 256.5 million shares. In the year ago period, the Company reported net loss of $196.0 million, or $0.76 per share on a diluted basis of 258.0 million shares.
Adjusted net income in the fourth quarter was $330.1 million, or $1.29 per diluted share, up from $300.6 million, or $1.16 per diluted share, in the prior year period. Adjusted EBITDA in the fourth quarter was $795.6 million, as compared to $731.9 million in the prior year period. Adjusted net income, adjusted net income per diluted share and adjusted EBITDA, all non-GAAP measures, primarily exclude impairments and transaction-related items, as reflected in the detailed reconciliations in the attached tables.
For the year ended December 31, 2025, revenue was $9.467 billion, up from $8.920 billion in the year ago period. Operating income was $1.710 billion, which included $109.7 million in impairments and other operating items primarily related to an environmental liability at an operating facility and the write-down of a non-operating E&P waste facility permit, plus $24.2 million in transaction-related expenses and $0.4 million in fair value changes to certain equity awards. In the year ago period, operating income was $1.068 billion, which included $613.0 million in impairments primarily related to the early closure of a landfill and closure and post-closure costs, $26.1 million in transaction-related expenses and $1.6 million in fair value changes to certain equity awards.
Net income for the year ended December 31, 2025 was $1.077 billion, or $4.17 per share on a diluted basis of 258.0 million shares. In the year ago period, the Company reported net income of $617.6 million, or $2.39 per share on a diluted basis of 258.7 million shares.
Adjusted net income for the year ended December 31, 2025 was $1.328 billion, or $5.15 per diluted share, up from $1.239 billion, or $4.79 per diluted share, in the year ago period. Adjusted EBITDA for the year ended December 31, 2025 was $3.125 billion, up from $2.902 billion in the prior year period.
Waste Connections also announced its outlook for 2026, which assumes no change in the current economic environment. The Company’s outlook excludes expensing of transaction-related items.
Revenue is estimated in the range of $9.90 billion to $9.95 billion.
Net income is estimated in the range of $1.223 billion to $1.238 billion and adjusted EBITDA is estimated in the range of $3.300 billion to $3.325 billion.
Net cash provided by operating activities is estimated in the range of $2.65 billion to $2.70 billion.
Capital expenditures are estimated to be approximately $1.25 billion.
Adjusted free cash flow is estimated in the range of $1.40 billion to $1.45 billion, up 11.2% to 15.1% year over year.
Waste Connections will be hosting a conference call related to fourth quarter earnings on February 12th at 8:30 A.M. Eastern Time. A live audio webcast of the conference call can be accessed by visiting investors.wasteconnections.com and selecting “Events & Presentations” from the website menu.
Waste Connections is an integrated solid waste services company that provides non-hazardous waste collection, transfer and disposal services, including by rail, along with resource recovery primarily through recycling and renewable fuels generation. The Company serves approximately nine million residential, commercial and industrial customers in mostly exclusive and secondary markets across 46 states in the U.S. and six provinces in Canada. Waste Connections also provides non-hazardous oilfield waste treatment, recovery and disposal services in several basins across the U.S. and Canada, as well as intermodal services for the movement of cargo and solid waste containers in the Pacific Northwest.
Source: Waste Connections
