Union Pacific
UNP · Rail Transportation
$292.87
1.8%Waste Management
WM · Environmental & Facilities Services
$239.38
0.1%The short version
- Waste Management is the larger business, with $25.2B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $24.5B for Union Pacific.
- Waste Management grew revenue faster (14.2%, against 1.1%).
- Union Pacific kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (40.2% operating margin, against 17.1% operating margin).
- Union Pacific turned more of its sales into free cash flow (22.4% FCF margin, against 11.2% FCF margin).
- Union Pacific earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (15.9%, against 10.9%).
- Investors pay more for each dollar of Waste Management’s earnings: a P/E of 33.9x against 22.8x for Union Pacific.
| Latest fiscal year | UNP · FY25 | WM · FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $174.1B | $96.3B |
| Revenue | $24.5B | $25.2B |
| Free cash flow | $5.5B | $2.8B |
| Net income | $7.1B | $2.7B |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | 1.1% | 14.2% |
| 5-year growth | 4.6% | 10.6% |
| Share count change | −2.1% | 0.2% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | — | 40.4% |
| Operating margin | 40.2% | 17.1% |
| Net margin | 29.1% | 10.7% |
| FCF margin | 22.4% | 11.2% |
| Return on capital | 15.9% | 10.9% |
| Return on equity | 40.4% | 29.7% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | $30.7B | $22.0B |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 2.5x | 3.1x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $5.9B | $1.3B |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | 22.8x | 33.9x |
| Piotroski F-score | 7 | 6 |
FY16
UNP $19.9B
WM $13.6B
FY17
UNP $21.2B
WM $14.5B
FY18
UNP $22.8B
WM $14.9B
FY19
UNP $21.7B
WM $15.5B
FY20
UNP $19.5B
WM $15.2B
FY21
UNP $21.8B
WM $17.9B
FY22
UNP $24.9B
WM $19.7B
FY23
UNP $24.1B
WM $20.4B
FY24
UNP $24.3B
WM $22.1B
FY25
UNP $24.5B
WM $25.2B
UNP
WM
FY16
UNP 36.3%
WM 16.9%
FY17
UNP 38.2%
WM 18.2%
FY18
UNP 37.3%
WM 18.7%
FY19
UNP 39.4%
WM 17.5%
FY20
UNP 40.1%
WM 16.0%
FY21
UNP 42.8%
WM 16.5%
FY22
UNP 39.9%
WM 17.1%
FY23
UNP 37.7%
WM 17.5%
FY24
UNP 40.1%
WM 18.4%
FY25
UNP 40.2%
WM 17.1%
UNP
WM
FY16
UNP $4.0B
WM $1.7B
FY17
UNP $4.0B
WM $1.6B
FY18
UNP $5.2B
WM $1.9B
FY19
UNP $5.2B
WM $2.1B
FY20
UNP $5.6B
WM $1.8B
FY21
UNP $6.1B
WM $2.3B
FY22
UNP $5.7B
WM $1.7B
FY23
UNP $4.8B
WM $1.8B
FY24
UNP $5.9B
WM $2.2B
FY25
UNP $5.5B
WM $2.8B
UNP
WM
FY16
UNP 13.5%
WM —
FY17
UNP 21.9%
WM 16.2%
FY18
UNP 16.0%
WM 14.8%
FY19
UNP 15.4%
WM 13.2%
FY20
UNP 14.0%
WM 10.4%
FY21
UNP 16.8%
WM 11.5%
FY22
UNP 17.4%
WM 12.7%
FY23
UNP 15.4%
WM 12.4%
FY24
UNP 15.9%
WM 12.2%
FY25
UNP 15.9%
WM 10.9%
UNP
WM
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Each company's latest fiscal year; fiscal years end in different months. The best value in each row is highlighted where higher (or lower) is clearly better. Not investment advice.