Wedbush Initiates Coverage of Waste Management with Optimistic Industry Outlook

Date: January 21, 2010

Source: Wedbush Securities

Wedbush Securities has initiated coverage of Waste Management (WM) and Waste Connections (WCN) and is recommending them to investors. An analyst with the Los Angeles-based investment firm said "We view the waste industry, in general, as a defensive sector as municipal waste volumes typically remain stable through economic cycles and help generate stable levels of cash flows, especially as pricing discipline is maintained." While decreased volumes over the last year led the waste management industry to underperform the market, improving economic conditions are expected to give the industry an outsized boost. "We expect to see improvements in monthly and quarterly volumes, on a year/year basis, as comparisons get much easier late in 2010. We view companies operating in franchise markets and those with an extensive network of transfer stations favorably."

To learn more about Wedbush, visit: www.wedbush.com.

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