Waste Management - Financial Analysis

Waste Management: A Corporate Finance Analysis

Margaret Bednarowicz

Isidro Gonzalez

Graciela Perez

Asuncion Travina

FIN520 – Corporate Finance

Professor Bruce Gockerman

February 20, 2010

Introduction

Waste Management first began in the 1960, with the three founders, Wayne Huizenga, Dean Buntrock, and Larry Beck after Huizenga started handling the local waste services at Chicago in 1890’s. Based in Houston, Texas, Waste Management currently operates in 47 states, Puerto Rico, District of Columbia, and Canada. It is the “leading provider of comprehensive waste and environmental services in North America” (“Waste Management”, n.d.). Waste Management is truly committed to serving their municipal, commercial, industrial, and residential customers. The company pursues projects that would benefit the waste industry, communities and the environment. The company is also interested in growing the company through strategic acquisition.

Waste Management’s value is to provide a foundation for the company’s practices and standards. This includes honesty, accountability, safety, professionalism, respect, inclusion, diversity, and employee empowerment. The company wants to be the preferred brand to their customers, and a brand they can be recommended to others.

Waste Management’s social responsibility is to “think green”, “reduce, recycle, and reuse”. They focus on what can make a positive difference to the environment through renewable energy, recover and process methane gas, and recycle and reuse of methane gas. The organization believes that through the use of recycling, they can produce renewable energy through natural resources.

Because of its mission to help communities to provide a sustainable environment, Waste Management acquired several awards for its leadership in environmental stewardship and its commitments to their customers. Several awards are as follows (“WM Awards”, n.d.):

* Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes for 5 years in a row – 2009

*...