Critical Analysis: Casella Waste Systems (NASDAQ:CWST) & Enviri (NYSE:NVRI)

Casella Waste Systems (NASDAQ:CWST) and Enviri (NYSE:NVRI) are both business services companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, profitability, valuation, risk, earnings, institutional ownership and dividends.

Volatility and Risk

Casella Waste Systems has a beta of 0.77, indicating that its stock price is 23% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Enviri has a beta of 1.59, indicating that its stock price is 59% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Casella Waste Systems and Enviri”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Casella Waste Systems	$1.84 billion	2.90	$7.87 million	$0.11	760.45
Enviri	$2.24 billion	0.73	-$167.60 million	($2.08)	-9.47

Casella Waste Systems has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Enviri. Enviri is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Casella Waste Systems, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

99.5% of Casella Waste Systems shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.4% of Enviri shares are held by institutional investors. 3.8% of Casella Waste Systems shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.5% of Enviri shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Casella Waste Systems and Enviri, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Casella Waste Systems	1	1	8	2	2.92
Enviri	1	3	1	0	2.00

Casella Waste Systems presently has a consensus price target of $111.13, indicating a potential upside of 32.85%. Enviri has a consensus price target of $22.25, indicating a potential upside of 12.92%. Given Casella Waste Systems’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Casella Waste Systems is more favorable than Enviri.

Profitability

This table compares Casella Waste Systems and Enviri’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Casella Waste Systems	0.38%	5.19%	2.48%
Enviri	-7.50%	-8.59%	-1.09%

Summary

Casella Waste Systems beats Enviri on 13 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Casella Waste Systems

Casella Waste Systems, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a vertically integrated solid waste services company in the United States. It offers resource management services primarily in the areas of solid waste collection and disposal, transfer, recycling, and organics services to residential, commercial, municipal, institutional, and industrial customers. The company provides non-hazardous solid waste services, including collections, transfer stations, recycling, and disposal operations. In addition, it markets materials, including fibers, corrugated cardboard, newsprint, plastics, glass, ferrous, and aluminum metals. Casella Waste Systems, Inc. was founded in 1975 and is headquartered in Rutland, Vermont.

About Enviri

Enviri Corporation provides environmental solutions for industrial and specialty waste streams in the United States and internationally. The company operates through two segments: Harsco Environmental and Clean Earth. The Harsco Environmental segment offers on-site services under long-term contracts for material logistics, product quality improvement, and resource recovery for iron, steel, and metals manufacturing; manufactures and sells industrial abrasives, roofing granules, aluminum dross, and scrap processing systems; and meltshop and furnace services, such as under-vessel cleaning, removal of ladle slag, and general melt shop debris. This segment also produces and sells value-added downstream products from industrial waste-stream, including road surfacing and materials, such as slag-based asphalt product under the SteelPhal brand; abrasives and roofing materials under the BLACK BEAUTY and SURE/CUT brand names; Metallurgical Additives; agriculture and turf products comprising soil conditioners and fertilizers under the CrossOver and AgrowSil brands; and cement additives. The Clean Earth segment provides specialty waste processing, treatment, recycling, and beneficial reuse solutions for waste needs, such as hazardous, non-hazardous, and contaminated soils and dredged materials to industrial, retail, healthcare, and construction industries. The company was formerly known as Harsco Corporation and changed its name to Enviri Corporation in June 2023. The company was founded in 1853 and is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.