Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) Q2 2024 Earnings Conference Call July 25, 2024 8:30 AM ET
Company Participants
Ron Mittelstaedt - President & Chief Executive Officer
Mary Anne Whitney - Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer
Conference Call Participants
Tyler Brown - Raymond James
Kevin Chiang - CIBC
Bryan Burgmeier - Citi
Noah Kaye - Oppenheimer
Toni Kaplan - Morgan Stanley
Jerry Revich - Goldman Sachs
Jack Wilson - Truist Securities
James Schumm - TD Cowen
Sabahat Khan - RBC Capital Markets
Brian Butler - Stifel
Timna Tanners - Wolfe Research
Stephanie Moore - Jefferies
Operator
Good day, and welcome to the Waste Connections, Inc. Second Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. All participants will be in listen-only mode. [Operator Instructions] After today’s presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. [Operator Instructions] Please note today’s event is being recorded.
I would now like to turn the conference over to Ron Mittelstaedt, President and CEO. Please go ahead, sir.
Ron Mittelstaedt
Thank you, operator and good morning. I would like to welcome everyone to this conference call to discuss our second quarter results and an updated outlook for 2024, and to provide a detailed outlook for the third quarter. I am joined this morning by Mary Anne Whitney, our CFO; and several other members of our senior management.
As noted in our earnings release, solid operational execution supplemented by incremental acquisitions and increased commodity values drove an across-the-board beat in the second quarter positioning us for an increase to our full year outlook.
Revenue and adjusted EBITDA increased in the quarter by 11.2% and 16.4%, respectively as price-led organic solid waste growth and 100 basis point sequential improvement in volume was augmented by accretive acquisitions.
We are extremely pleased by the continued strength of our operational execution during the quarter, including sequential improvement in employee retention as we maintain the strategy that has served to differentiate our results and which positions us for continued outsized growth.
Given the strength of our performance in the first half of 2024, the momentum from continuing trends and contribution from recent acquisitions we are raising our full year 2024 outlook to approximately $8.85 billion in revenue and approximately $2.9 billion in adjusted EBITDA or 32.8% adjusted EBITDA margin exceeding our initial outlook and up 130 basis points as compared to the prior year.
Before we get into much more detail, let me turn the call over to Mary Anne for our forward-looking disclaimer and other housekeeping items.