Republic Services (NYSE:RSG) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.01 EPS

Republic Services (NYSE:RSG) announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The business services provider reported $1.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.93 by $0.01, FiscalAI reports. Republic Services had a return on equity of 18.69% and a net margin of 12.94%. The business had revenue of $4.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.42 billion.

Here are the key takeaways from Republic Services’ conference call:

• Strong third-quarter performance and raised 2026 outlook: Revenue grew 8.2%, adjusted EPS was $1.94, and year-to-date adjusted free cash flow reached $2.28 billion. Republic increased its full-year 2026 guidance to $17.425–$17.475 billion of revenue, $5.5–$5.575 billion of adjusted EBITDA, and $2.565–$2.585 billion of adjusted free cash flow.
• Volume trends improved across commercial businesses: Small- and large-container volumes each increased 50 basis points, marking the first quarter in more than three years with simultaneous growth in both categories. Management expects industry Recycling & Waste volumes to turn positive in 2027, although residential volumes declined 4.3% in the quarter.
• Environmental Solutions delivered significant growth and margin expansion: Revenue increased 21% year over year, or approximately 9% excluding several large emergency-response projects, while adjusted EBITDA margin expanded 440 basis points to 25.4%. Management cited broad-based demand across industrial and hazardous-waste operations and expects continued growth into 2027.
• Higher diesel, healthcare, and prior-year comparisons pressured margins: Elevated fuel costs reduced adjusted EBITDA margin by 50 basis points, while unusually high healthcare claims and the absence of a prior-year rebate reduced it by another 60 basis points. Fuel recovery fees offset the cash impact of diesel inflation but are dilutive to margins when fuel prices rise.
• Investment programs support longer-term growth: Republic has invested $1.1 billion in acquisitions year to date and expects at least $1.2 billion for 2026, while AI pricing tools are already deployed and AI routing is expected to scale beginning in 2027. Management continues to target roughly $100 million of run-rate EBITDA benefit from digital initiatives by the end of 2028.

Republic Services Price Performance

Shares of Republic Services stock traded up $3.03 on Thursday, reaching $236.43. The stock had a trading volume of 1,505,575 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,525,937. Republic Services has a 1 year low of $196.41 and a 1 year high of $243.22. The company has a market cap of $72.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.86 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a current ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. The business’s 50 day moving average is $221.99 and its two-hundred day moving average is $216.64.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Cascade Investment, L.L.C. bought 409,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 8th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $221.49 per share, with a total value of $90,700,155.00. Following the acquisition, the insider owned 116,166,330 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,729,680,431.70. The trade was a 0.35% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders have purchased a total of 6,254,462 shares of company stock worth $1,380,321,958 over the last three months. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on RSG shares. BMO Capital Markets set a $244.00 target price on Republic Services in a research note on Thursday, October 15th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Republic Services from $232.00 to $219.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 13th. Scotiabank reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $236.00 price objective on shares of Republic Services in a report on Thursday, October 15th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Republic Services from $233.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on shares of Republic Services from $270.00 to $258.00 in a research note on Friday, October 9th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $243.73.

Republic Services Company Profile

Republic Services, Inc is an environmental services company that provides waste collection, recycling and disposal solutions for residential, commercial, industrial and municipal customers. Its services include curbside collection, dumpster and roll-off container services, transfer station operations, landfill management and recycling processing.

The company also provides specialized environmental services, including hazardous waste management, emergency response, remediation and other sustainability-related solutions for businesses and government organizations.