RSG vs WMG: Which Is the Better Buy in 2026?

Same yardstick, side by side (as of September 2026). Valuation lined up like this is most meaningful for two names in the same corner of the market, which these are. Figures are approximate; verify before investing.

Reading it: WMG is the cheaper of the two on forward earnings, but cheaper is not the same as better. Pair the valuation with growth (how far the forward P/E sits below the trailing P/E) and risk (beta) before you decide.

The metrics above tell you which is the marginally better business. The bigger risk for most people is not picking the slightly worse stock, it is over-concentrating. RSG and WMG share themes, so owning both, or adding either to what you already hold, can quietly push a large share of your portfolio into one bet.

This is the part a generic comparison page cannot answer, because it depends on what you own. Connect your brokerage and Walnut shows your real, combined RSG and WMG exposure, flags overlap with your existing positions, and tells you if adding one would tip you past a concentration you are comfortable with, read-only by default, with your login staying at your broker. Walnut is not an investment adviser.

Republic Services collects, transfers, recycles and buries waste. Collection produced 67.6% of revenue in the second quarter of 2026, split across small-container commercial (30.9%), large-container industrial (19.0%) and residential (17.3%). Post-collection disposal added a further 11.7% from landfills and 5.2% from transfer stations, both net of intercompany volume. Environmental Solutions, the Group 3 reportable segment that handles hazardous and non-hazardous industrial waste through 24 treatment, storage and disposal facilities, 16 deep injection wells and a field services business, contributed 10.3%. Recycling processing, commodity sales and other non-core lines made up the remaining ~5%. The physical network as of June 30, 2026 ran to 389 collection operations, 260 transfer stations, 84 recycling centers, two polymer centers and 208 active landfills holding an estimated 5.1 billion in-place cubic yards of available airspace, with an average remaining site life of 56 years. Republic also carries post-closure responsibility for 125 closed landfills and runs 87 landfill gas-to-energy and other renewable energy projects. Roughly 67% of collected solid waste is disposed at sites the company owns or operates, the internalization rate that turns a hauling route into a vertically integrated margin.

Full RSG guide

Warner Music Group Corp. is one of the three major music companies, alongside Universal Music Group and Sony Music. It operates two segments. Recorded Music, roughly 80% of revenue, owns and markets sound recordings through labels including Atlantic Records, Warner Records, Elektra, Parlophone, Rhino, 300 Entertainment, Warner Music Nashville and the independent distributor ADA. Music Publishing, the remaining fifth, is Warner Chappell Music, which owns and administers the underlying compositions and collects mechanical, performance and synchronisation royalties. Those are genuinely different businesses attached to the same song: the recording is the specific performance you hear on Spotify, the composition is the melody and lyrics beneath it, and they are licensed, priced and collected separately. Publishing carries lower absolute revenue but very durable, annuity-like cash flows, which is why the segment's growth rate is watched as closely as the much larger recorded side.

Full WMG guide

Both fit overlapping themes, but they are not interchangeable. The useful comparison is which set of drivers and risks you want exposure to.

• RSG drivers: Price above cost inflation is the entire engine; Volume is being given up on purpose.
• WMG drivers: Streaming price increases flowing through to royalties; Cost reduction lifting margin without new revenue.

A faster-growing, richer-valued name usually swings harder, so it suits a longer horizon and a higher tolerance for volatility; a steadier, more cash-generative business suits a more conservative or income-minded investor. The honest test is which set of risks you could hold through a drawdown: Environmental Solutions is the visible soft spot. For WMG, warner sells through a handful of counterparties, so Spotify, Apple, Amazon, YouTube and Tencent Music hold real bargaining power over the rate and structure of every renewal, and a single unfavourable deal reprices a large share of digital revenue.

Growth-minded investors who believe the theme has years to run tend to accept the richer multiple for more upside; value-minded investors lean toward the cheaper forward earnings and steadier profile. Pick RSG if you believe its drivers more; WMG if you believe its. Many investors hold both, but since they share themes, that is a concentrated bet, not diversification. Decide deliberately and check overlap. For the full detail, see the RSG and WMG guides.

RSG. Republic's low-30s trailing multiple sits close to Waste Management, at ~31.7 times on $25.67 billion of trailing revenue, and comfortably below Waste Connections at ~41 times on $9.76 billion. The sector as a whole carries an equity-like multiple on utility-like volatility, and buyers are underwriting decades of contracted price escalation rather than any growth in the amount of garbage Americans produce. One caution on the reported figures: GAAP pre-tax income now absorbs roughly $190 million a year of equity-method losses from renewable energy investments, which is offset in the tax provision rather than added back to adjusted EPS, so headline earnings growth understates operating performance while the effective tax rate flatters it.

WMG. Adding ~$4.09 billion of net debt to a ~$13.73 billion equity value gives an enterprise value near ~$17.8 billion, so Warner is capitalised roughly 2.5 times trailing revenue and in the low-to-mid teens on trailing EBITDA, a multiple that has compressed meaningfully from where the stock traded in late 2025. The June 2026 quarter produced net income of ~$200 million and basic EPS of ~$0.39 against a ~$0.03 per share loss a year earlier, with adjusted EPS of ~$0.51, while operating cash flow was ~$142 million and free cash flow ~$114 million. Management has recommitted to high-single-digit revenue growth, double-digit adjusted OIBDA and adjusted EPS growth, and 50% to 60% operating cash flow conversion, and the quarterly dividend of ~$0.20 per share works out to roughly a 3% yield at the current market capitalisation.

Headline figures (approximate, August 2026): RSG shows revenue (ttm) ~$16.89 billion for the twelve months to June 30, 2026, up ~3.2%, versus $16.591 billion in fiscal 2025, $16.032 billion in 2024 and $14.965 billion in 2023. Second-quarter revenue was $4.430 billion, up 4.6%, and first-half revenue $8.544 billion, up 3.6%. Management raised full-year 2026 guidance on August 6 to $17.200 billion to $17.300 billion., earnings and eps Net income attributable to Republic was $566 million in the second quarter, a 12.8% margin, or $1.84 per diluted share, against $550 million and $1.75 a year earlier. Adjusted EPS was $1.85 versus $1.77. TTM net income is ~$2.19 billion on ~$7.06 of diluted EPS. Full-year 2026 guidance is $7.18 to $7.23 reported and $7.23 to $7.28 adjusted, with adjusted EBITDA of $5.525 billion to $5.550 billion., pricing and volume Core price added 5.3% to second-quarter revenue (6.4% of related-business revenue, made up of 7.8% open market and 4.1% restricted), average yield 3.4%, fuel recovery fees 1.8%, acquisitions 1.1%, while volume subtracted 1.6%. By line: residential yield 4.4% on volume of negative 4.3%, small-container yield 5.0% on volume of negative 0.2%, large-container yield 3.8% on volume of negative 2.2%, and municipal solid waste landfill yield 5.6% on volume of positive 1.1%., segment mix and margin Recycling and Waste generated $3.972 billion of second-quarter revenue at a 33.5% adjusted EBITDA margin, up from 33.1%. Environmental Solutions generated $458 million at 20.2%, down from 24.4%, and $863 million at 19.7% for the half against $911 million at 22.6%. Group adjusted EBITDA margin was 32.1% in both periods. Recycled commodities averaged $136 per ton in the quarter, $13 below the prior year.; WMG shows revenue (ttm) ~$7.13B (FY2025 was ~$6.71B), fiscal q3 2026 revenue ~$1.864B (+10.4% YoY), segment split (q3 fy26) Recorded Music ~$1.488B, Publishing ~$377M, adjusted oibda (q3 fy26) ~$433M (+16.1%), ~23.2% margin.

RSG and WMG are related but distinct: same themes, different businesses and risks. Neither wins in the abstract; the right pick is whichever thesis you actually believe, sized so you are not over-concentrated in one theme. Walnut can show your combined RSG and WMG exposure against your real portfolio. It is not an investment adviser.