Dive Brief:
- Industry giants Waste Management (WM) and Republic Services made the Fortune 500 list yet again this year, ranking 221 and 312 respectively. Last year Waste Management was 217 and Republic was 323.
- This marked Texas-based WM's 18th year on the list and Arizona-based Republic's 7th year.
- The other waste management companies on the publication's overall list were Clean Harbors at 677, Stericycle at 735 and Waste Connections at 939.
Dive Insight:
The industry's top two companies maintained similar places on the list as compared to last year, though both are down from the all-time highs they reached at their debuts. WM peaked at 129 in 1999 and has seen its rank steadily decline. Republic peaked at 278 in 2010 and has declined since, though has seen its ranking improve over the last three years.
These shifts may be more reflective of other changes on the list than the companies' overall performance. WM's stock value is currently higher than Republic's and the company reported strong Q1 earnings, while Republic saw a slight dip.
Both companies are listed as having similar assets of more than $20 billion and profits of more than $750 million, but Republic has seen more improvements since last year. According to Fortune, the company's revenue increased by 3.7% while WM's revenue decreased by 7.4%. Republic also saw a 36.9% profit increase, compared to WM's 42% decrease.
Waste Connections, now the third-largest company in the industry after its recent merger with Progressive Waste Solutions, should expect to see its ranking on the list increase next year once the deal is taken into account.
