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Gold In Waste Management

Posted: Nov 24, 2009 08:59 AM by Sham Gad

Tickers in this Article: CWST, NYSE:BRK.A, RSG, WM

Nobody likes taking out the trash. Fewer people aspire to start a waste collection business. That bodes very well for those businesses that do collect our waste. They operate with very little competition and as far as I know, 100 years from now, people will still be taking out trash. Despite any technological advances, waste will always exist.

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Waste Management
The time is ripe to consider waste hauling businesses. The economic recession has hurt the share prices of theses businesses, but the long-term prospects of the industry hasn't really changed at all. The big daddy in the space is Waste Management (NYSE:WM). The company has one of the largest established networks of hauling routes, dumpsters, trucks and collection centers. The network that these assets have built for Waste Management would be extremely tough to replicate today. Shares trade at 15 times forward earnings along with a 3.60% yield that you can take to the bank. It doesn't hurt to know that Bill Gates investment vehicle recently added to its Waste Management position.

Republic Services
Another quality player in the business is Republic Services (NYSE:RSG). Republic owns 213 waste landfills, 242 transfer stations and 78 recycling facilities that provide waste collection services for 13 million customers through 400 collection companies in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. Shares trade for around $27.40 or a market cap of $10.4 billion. Today one is paying 1.3 times book for assets generating over $7 billion that would cost substantially more than that to replicate. And in this case, intangible assets, like customer relationships, are clearly worth something. You're in good company if you invest in Republic; Warren Buffett bought 1% of the company for Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK-A) (NYSE:BRK-B) in the third quarter.

Casella Waste
A much smaller player is Casella Waste Systems (Nasdaq:CWST), with a market cap of $85 million, but a highly levered balance sheet with over $500 million in debt. The only investment case for Casella today would be that it be bought out by one of the bigger players. At the current market cap, Casella trades for a fraction of the $500 million in annual sales. Being a part of a larger enterprise, Casella's net losses could benefit from operating efficiencies. The $652 million EV price tag gets you 32 solid waste collection operations, 31 transfer stations, 37 recycling facilities, and other valuable assets.

One Man's Trash is Another's Treasure
Very few businesses offer the stability of waste collection and disposal. It just so happens that the two dominant players are very attractively priced for the long term today. (For more, see Save The Earth: Become A Capitalist.)

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By Sham Gad

Sham Gad is the Managing Partner of Gad Partners Fund's, value inspired investment partnerships modeled after the Buffett Partnerships of the 1950's. Previously, Gad ran the Gad Investment Group and delivered annualized returns of 22% from 2002 to 2005. Gad is also the author of "The Business of Value Investing" which will be out in the fall of 2009. Gad earned his MBA at the University of Georgia in May of 2007. Gad runs a value investing blog. He can also be reached by visiting the Gad Partners Funds site. When not writing or analyzing businesses, Gad enjoys hanging out with his wife Maggie, reading, golf, and yoga

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