Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) Q3 2024 Earnings Conference Call October 24, 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

Kevin Chiang - CIBC
Noah Kaye - Oppenheimer
Adam Bubes - Goldman Sachs
Tyler Brown - Raymond James
Konark Gupta - Scotiabank
Chris Murray - ATB Capital Markets
James Schumm - TD Cowen
Sabahat Khan - RBC Capital Markets
Stephanie Yee - JPMorgan
James Somerville - Eight Capital
Brian Butler - Stifel
Jasper Bibb - Truist Securities

Operator

Good day, and welcome to the Waste Connections Inc. Q3 2024 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please note, this event is being recorded.

I would now like to turn the conference over to Ronald J. Mittelstaedt, President and CEO. Please go ahead.

Ron Mittelstaedt

Thank you, operator, and good morning. I would like to welcome everyone to this conference call to discuss our third quarter results and to provide an update to our full year 2024 outlook a detailed outlook for the fourth quarter as well as some early thoughts about 2025.

I'm joined this morning by Mary Anne Whitney, our CFO and other members of our leadership team. As noted in our earnings release, we are extremely pleased by the strength of our operating and financial results in the period, positioning us for another increase to our full year 2024 outlook with momentum as we look ahead to 2025.

Solid waste growth led by 6.8% core pricing was supplemented by incremental acquisition contributions and 90 basis points sequential improvement in solid waste volumes during the period to drive results above expectations.

Solid operational execution enabled us to deliver adjusted EBITDA margin of 33.7% in the third quarter, as we expected, up 120 basis points year-over-year, overcoming margin dilution from acquisitions closed during the quarter and initial storm-related impacts at quarter end.

Our results also reflect continued progress in employee retention, with voluntary turnover improving for the eighth consecutive quarter, bringing multiyear reductions to over 40% as we continue to invest in our most important asset, our people.

Further, we anticipate that our innovative approaches to drive continued improvement in employee engagement and retention should position us in 2025 for another year of above-average underlying margin expansion in solid waste collection, transfer and disposal.

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.