Waste Management Ticks Higher Amid 3 Announcements

Shares of Waste Management WM are set to be volatile after giving three business updates.

$1.94 Billion Sale

Waste Management said it will sell Wheelabrator Technologies, which operates 17 waste to energy facilities and four power facilities, for $1.94 billion cash.

At first glance, Waste Management appears to have done well on the sale: Wheelabrator is being divested for 2.3 times 2013 sales, while Waste Management is currently trading at 1.5 times 2013 sales.

The company said it plans to use proceeds of the sale to repurchase shares and buy core assets. The company expects $0.02 to be added to the bottom line if the proceeds are used just to repurchase shares and pay down debt.

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$600 Million Buyback Plan

Making good on the commitment to repurchase shares, Waste Management announced an expanded buyback program in a separate release. The company stated that it “entered into an accelerated share repurchase program to return $600 million of our cash flow to our shareholders through share repurchases.”

Second Quarter Earnings

Waste Management also reported second quarter EPS of $0.60 versus the $0.59 analyst estimate. Revenue for the quarter came in at $3.56 billion, beating the Wall Street consensus by $10 million.

Fully year 2014 guidance was maintained in the range of $2.30 and $2.35.

Shares of the company are up 1.8 percent in Tuesday's pre-market.