Analyst Note
| Brian Bernard, CFA, CPA |2020 was an eventful year for Waste Management. The wide-moat-rated firm had to navigate through a difficult operating environment amid the pandemic while also completing its $4.6 billion acquisition of Advanced Disposal Services, which closed on Oct. 30. After two challenging quarters, Waste Management once again achieved organic revenue growth, with total average yield of 3.1% more than offsetting a 2.6% volume decline. The ADS acquisition added an additional 5.3% of growth, and total fourth-quarter revenue increased 5.7% year over year. Full-year 2020 revenue was down 1.5% compared with the prior year.