Waste Management (WM) reported a 44% increase in profit in the fourth quarter, topping Wall Street's expectations,thanks to higher recycling prices.
The biggest U.S. trash hauler reported its fourth-quarter net income rose to $315 million, or 64 cents per share, compared with $218 million, or 44 cents per share, in the same period a year ago.
The company's board also approved an 8.6% increase to the annual dividend, to $1.26 per share.
Revenue declined 3.3% in the quarter to $3.01 billion, compared with $3.11 billion a year ago. Analysts were expecting revenue to come in at around $2.95 billion.
“We saw encouraging signs of improvement in the fourth quarter," said CEO David Steiner in a statement. "Average recycling commodity prices continued to increase each month in the fourth quarter, and have almost doubled from the lows reached in January 2009."
Average recycling commodity prices jumped nearly 20% in the quarter.
The company forecasted its full-year 2010 earnings will increase to a range of $2.09 to $2.13 per diluted share.
"As we look to 2010, we expect the rate of decline in volumes to continue to show improvement during the first half of the year, and we expect volumes for the second half of the year to be flat to slightly positive," Steiner said.
Shares of the Houston-based company were trading 2.6% higher in early trading, at around $32.68.
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