Casella Waste (CWST - Snapshot Report) has met or beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the last four quarters. Over that span, there was one meet and more importantly to aggressive growth investors, each report saw solid beats on the top line. The stock is a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and today it is the Bull of the Day.

The Numbers

CWST beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of$0.24 by $0.05 for a 20% positive earnings surprise. The topline was equally as impressive with the company reporting revenues of $125M and that was $7M more than expected for a 6.3% positive revenue surprise.

Description

Casella Waste Systems is a regional, integrated solid waste services company that provides collection, transfer, disposal and recycling services, generates steam and manufactures finished products utilizing recyclable materials primarily throughout the eastern portion of the United States and parts of Canada. The Company also markets recyclable metals, aluminum, plastics, paper and corrugated cardboard all processed at its facilities and recyclables purchased from third parties.

Earnings History

As noted above the company has a solid recent history of beating the number. Two of the last four reports coming in ahead of the Zacks Consensus Estimate there is a clear signal here that company executives know how to manage Wall Street.

The Spetember 2015 quarter, the other beat in the last year, was also a big one. The company posted a beat of $0.01, but that was a strong penny as it was a 14% positive earnings surprise. Like each of the last 5 quarters, the company beat on top as well.

The company is slated to report earnings again on or around July 28.

Estimates

Estimates have been moving higher almost all year. The 2016 Zacks Consensus Estimate was calling for a loss of $0.05 in February, but moved higher by a penny in May and anouther cent in June. That may not sound like much, but in percentage terms it is huge.

The 2017 Zacks Consensus Estimate moved from $0.06 to $0.10 over the same time period.

Chart

Zacks has developed a chart that helps investors see how earnings estimates have impacted the price of the stock over the last several years. We call this chart the price and consensus chart, and each color coded lines represents analyst estimates over a designated year. As estimates increase, the stock tends to follow. The Zacks Rank is impacted by earnings estimate increases, beats and incorporates the idea of analyst agreement and magnitude. As a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) we see that estimates are moving higher.