3M vs Waste Management
Add, change or remove companies; up to four.
The short version
- Waste Management is the larger business, with $25.2B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $24.9B for 3M.
- Waste Management grew revenue faster (14.2%, against 1.5%).
- 3M kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (18.6% operating margin, against 17.1%).
- Waste Management turned more of its sales into free cash flow (11.2% FCF margin, against 5.6%).
- 3M earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (34.2%, against 10.9%).
- Investors pay more for each dollar of Waste Management’s earnings: a P/E of 33.9x against 25.9x for 3M.
| Latest fiscal year | MMM · FY25 | WM · FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $90.7B | $96.3B |
| Revenue | $24.9B | $25.2B |
| Free cash flow | $1.4B | $2.8B |
| Net income | $3.3B | $2.7B |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | 1.5% | 14.2% |
| 5-year growth | −5.0% | 10.6% |
| Share count change | −2.0% | 0.2% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | 39.9% | 40.4% |
| Operating margin | 18.6% | 17.1% |
| Net margin | 13.0% | 10.7% |
| FCF margin | 5.6% | 11.2% |
| Return on capital | 34.2% | 10.9% |
| Return on equity | 76.1% | 29.7% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | $6.7B | $22.0B |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 1.1x | 3.1x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $4.8B | $1.3B |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | 25.9x | 33.9x |
| Piotroski F-score | 5 | 6 |
Revenue
FY16
MMM $30.1B
WM $13.6B
FY17
MMM $31.7B
WM $14.5B
FY18
MMM $32.8B
WM $14.9B
FY19
MMM $32.1B
WM $15.5B
FY20
MMM $32.2B
WM $15.2B
FY21
MMM $35.4B
WM $17.9B
FY22
MMM $26.2B
WM $19.7B
FY23
MMM $24.6B
WM $20.4B
FY24
MMM $24.6B
WM $22.1B
FY25
MMM $24.9B
WM $25.2B
MMM
WM
Operating margin
FY16
MMM 23.3%
WM 16.9%
FY17
MMM 24.3%
WM 18.2%
FY18
MMM 22.0%
WM 18.7%
FY19
MMM 19.2%
WM 17.5%
FY20
MMM 22.3%
WM 16.0%
FY21
MMM 20.8%
WM 16.5%
FY22
MMM 16.7%
WM 17.1%
FY23
MMM −43.4%
WM 17.5%
FY24
MMM 19.6%
WM 18.4%
FY25
MMM 18.6%
WM 17.1%
MMM
WM
Free cash flow
FY16
MMM $5.2B
WM $1.7B
FY17
MMM $4.9B
WM $1.6B
FY18
MMM $4.9B
WM $1.9B
FY19
MMM $5.4B
WM $2.1B
FY20
MMM $6.6B
WM $1.8B
FY21
MMM $5.9B
WM $2.3B
FY22
MMM $3.8B
WM $1.7B
FY23
MMM $5.1B
WM $1.8B
FY24
MMM $638M
WM $2.2B
FY25
MMM $1.4B
WM $2.8B
MMM
WM
Return on capital
FY16
MMM 25.9%
WM —
FY17
MMM 24.7%
WM 16.2%
FY18
MMM 26.6%
WM 14.8%
FY19
MMM —
WM 13.2%
FY20
MMM —
WM 10.4%
FY21
MMM 22.2%
WM 11.5%
FY22
MMM 15.3%
WM 12.7%
FY23
MMM −42.2%
WM 12.4%
FY24
MMM 36.0%
WM 12.2%
FY25
MMM 34.2%
WM 10.9%
MMM
WM
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.