Republic Services Earnings Outpace Estimates in Q1, Revenues Miss

Republic Services, Inc. RSG reported mixed first-quarter 2025 results. Earnings surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate, while revenues missed the same.

RSG’s earnings per share (EPS) of $1.58 outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 4% and gained 9% from the year-ago quarter. Revenues of $4 billion missed the consensus mark by a slight margin but increased 3.8% year over year.

The RSG stock has risen 26.8% in a year, outperforming the 8.9% rally of the industry it belongs to and 6.7% growth of the Zacks S&P 500 Composite.

Republic Services, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Republic Services’ Q1 Segmental Revenues

Revenues from Collection totaled $2.7 billion, up 3% from the year-ago quarter, meeting our estimate. Environmental solutions’ revenues (net) of $449 million grew 5.9% year over year and missed our projection of $466.3 million.

Revenues (net) in the Transfer and Landfill segments were $188 million and $421 million, increasing 2.7% and 4.2% on a year-over-year basis, respectively. The Transfer and Landfill segments’ revenues missed our projection of $203.8 million and $440.5 million, respectively.

The Other segment’s revenues of $208 million grew 10.6% from the year-ago quarter’s actual and surpassed our expectation of $199.5 million.

Operating Results of RSG

Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was $1.3 billion, increasing 8.8% from the year-ago quarter, beating our estimate of $1.2 billion. The adjusted EBITDA margin was 31.6%, up 140 basis points from the year-ago quarter, surpassing our projection of 30.5%.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow of RSG.

Republic Services exited the first quarter of 2025 with cash and cash equivalents of $83 million compared with $74 million at the end of the fourth quarter of 2024. The long-term debt (net of current maturities) was $12.9 billion compared with $11.9 billion at the end of the preceding quarter.

RSG generated $1 billion in cash from operating activities in the first quarter of 2025. The adjusted free cash flow was $727 million. Capital expenditure was $459 million.

Republic Services carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Republic Services’ 2025 Guidance

For 2025, RSG expects revenues of $16.85-$16.95 billion. The mid-point ($16.90 billion) of the guided range is higher than the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenues of $16.89 billion.

The company expects the adjusted EPS to be $6.82-$6.90. The mid-point ($6.86) of the guided range is in line with the Zacks Consensus Estimate. The adjusted EBITDA view is $5.28-$5.33 million.

Earnings Snapshot

The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. IPG reported mixed first-quarter 2025 results.

IPG’s adjusted earnings of 33 cents per share surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 10% but decreased 8.3% from the year-ago quarter. (Find the latest EPS estimates and surprises on Zacks Earnings Calendar.)

Revenues before billable expenses (net revenues) of $2 billion missed the consensus estimate by a slight margin and declined 8.3% year over year.

Fiserv, Inc. FI posted mixed first-quarter 2025 results.

FI’s adjusted earnings per share of $2.14 beat the consensus mark by 2.9% and gained 13.8% year over year.

Adjusted revenues of $4.8 billion missed the consensus estimate by 1.6% but gained 5.5% on a year-over-year basis.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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