Quest Resource (NASDAQ:QRHC) versus Waste Management (NYSE:WM) Head-To-Head Contrast

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) and Quest Resource (NASDAQ:QRHC) are both industrials companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, valuation, risk and profitability.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Waste Management and Quest Resource, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Waste Management	0	8	18	0	2.69
Quest Resource	1	1	0	0	1.50

Waste Management currently has a consensus price target of $257.04, indicating a potential upside of 5.57%. Given Waste Management’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Waste Management is more favorable than Quest Resource.

Volatility and Risk

Waste Management has a beta of 0.38, suggesting that its share price is 62% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Quest Resource has a beta of 0.2, suggesting that its share price is 80% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Waste Management and Quest Resource”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Waste Management	$25.20 billion	3.84	$2.71 billion	$7.62	31.95
Quest Resource	$248.49 million	0.12	-$15.38 million	($0.78)	-1.79

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

Profitability

This table compares Waste Management and Quest Resource’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Waste Management	11.78%	31.97%	6.90%
Quest Resource	-6.72%	-16.76%	-3.96%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

80.4% of Waste Management shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 48.2% of Quest Resource shares are held by institutional investors. 0.2% of Waste Management shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 19.6% of Quest Resource shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Waste Management beats Quest Resource on 13 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Waste Management

Waste Management, Inc., doing business as WM (NYSE:WM), is an environmental services company that provides waste collection, transportation, disposal, recycling and resource-recovery services. The company serves residential, commercial, industrial and municipal customers through a network of collection operations, transfer stations, landfills, recycling facilities and other environmental infrastructure. WM’s services include curbside and commercial waste collection, construction and demolition debris management, recycling, organics processing and landfill disposal.

About Quest Resource

Quest Resource Holding Corp. provides outsourced waste and recycling management services to businesses. Through its Quest Resource Management Group subsidiary, the company helps clients manage waste collection, recycling, disposal and resource recovery across their operations. Its services include waste-stream assessments, vendor coordination, recycling programs and reporting, as well as the handling of materials such as food waste, used cooking oil, cardboard, plastics and electronic waste. Quest works with a network of service providers to develop solutions tailored to clients’ locations and waste needs.