WM reports third quarter earnings up

Waste Management, Inc. announced financial results for its third quarter ended September 30, 2008.

Revenue for the third quarter of 2008 was $3.53 billion compared with $3.40 billion in the year ago period, an increase of 3.6 percent.

Net income for the quarter was $310 million, or $0.63 per diluted share, compared with $278 million, or $0.54 per diluted share, in the prior year period, an increase of 16.7 percent in earnings per diluted share.

The Company noted several items that impacted the results in the 2007 and 2008 third quarters. Results in the third quarter of 2008 included an after-tax benefit of $0.03 per diluted share due to gains from the divestiture of operations offset by a decrease of $0.03 per diluted share. This was related to the cost of a labor disruption in Milwaukee, including more than a $0.02 per diluted share charge related to the agreement to withdraw the bargaining unit from the Teamsters’ underfunded Central States pension fund. Results in the third quarter of 2007 included a decrease of $0.03 per diluted share related to the cost of a labor disruption in Oakland offset by a $0.03 per diluted share benefit from income tax items. Excluding those items, earnings would have been $312 million, or $0.63 per diluted share, in the third quarter of 2008 compared with $280 million, or $0.54 per diluted share, in the third quarter of 2007.

Income from operations as a percent of revenue was 18.0 percent in the third quarter of 2008, a 60 basis point improvement compared with the third quarter of 2007, both periods adjusted for the items noted above. For the nine months ended September 30, 2008, Waste Management reported operating revenue of $10.28 billion, compared with $9.95 billion for the same period last year. Net income was $869 million, or $1.75 per diluted share, for the nine months ended September 30, 2008, compared with net income of $854 million, or $1.62 per diluted share, for the same period in 2007.