Financial Analysis: Aqua Metals (NASDAQ:AQMS) vs. Waste Management (NYSE:WM)

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) and Aqua Metals (NASDAQ:AQMS) are both business services companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations, risk, profitability and earnings.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for Waste Management and Aqua Metals, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Waste Management	0	9	13	2	2.71
Aqua Metals	0	0	1	0	3.00

Waste Management presently has a consensus target price of $255.17, suggesting a potential upside of 16.26%. Aqua Metals has a consensus target price of $30.00, suggesting a potential upside of 411.07%. Given Aqua Metals’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Aqua Metals is more favorable than Waste Management.

Volatility & Risk

Waste Management has a beta of 0.64, indicating that its stock price is 36% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Aqua Metals has a beta of 0.29, indicating that its stock price is 71% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

80.4% of Waste Management shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 22.0% of Aqua Metals shares are held by institutional investors. 0.2% of Waste Management shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 8.3% of Aqua Metals shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Waste Management and Aqua Metals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Waste Management	11.36%	34.37%	6.91%
Aqua Metals	N/A	-214.23%	-135.05%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Waste Management and Aqua Metals”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Waste Management	$22.06 billion	4.01	$2.75 billion	$6.74	32.56
Aqua Metals	N/A	N/A	-$24.55 million	($35.94)	-0.16

Waste Management has higher revenue and earnings than Aqua Metals. Aqua Metals is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Waste Management, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Waste Management beats Aqua Metals on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Waste Management

Waste Management, Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in the provision of environmental solutions to residential, commercial, industrial, and municipal customers in the United States and Canada. It offers collection services, including picking up and transporting waste and recyclable materials from where it was generated to a transfer station, material recovery facility (MRF), or disposal site; and owns and operates transfer stations, as well as owns, develops, and operates landfill facilities that produce landfill gas used as renewable natural gas for generating electricity. As of December 31, 2022, the company owned or operated 254 solid waste landfills, five secure hazardous waste landfills, 97 MRFs, and 337 transfer stations. It also provides materials processing and commodities recycling services at its MRFs, where cardboard, paper, glass, metals, plastics, construction and demolition materials, and other recycling commodities are recovered for resale or redirected for other purposes; recycling brokerage services, such as managing the marketing of recyclable materials for third parties; and other strategic business solutions. In addition, the company offers construction and remediation services; services related with the disposal of fly ash, and residue generated from the combustion of coal and other fuel stocks; in-plant services comprising full-service waste management solutions and consulting services; and specialized disposal services for oil and gas exploration and production operations. The company was formerly known as USA Waste Services, Inc. and changed its name to Waste Management, Inc. in 1998. Waste Management, Inc. was incorporated in 1987 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

About Aqua Metals

Aqua Metals, Inc. engages in reinventing metals recycling activities with its patented AquaRefining technology. The company's technology produces metals and alloys that can be returned into the battery manufacturing supply chain markets, as well as sells metals for use in various advanced manufacturing industries. Its AquaRefining, a low-emissions and recycling technology that replaces polluting furnaces and hazardous chemicals with electricity-powered electroplating to recover valuable metals and materials from spent batteries. Aqua Metals, Inc. was incorporated in 2014 and is headquartered in Reno, Nevada.