Republic Services, Inc. (RSG) Stock Price & How to Invest

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.

The numbers move on price rather than tonnage. Second-quarter revenue of $4.430 billion grew 4.6%, built from 3.4 percentage points of average yield, 1.1 points of acquisitions and 1.8 points of fuel recovery fees, against a 1.6 point drag from volume. Core price, which strips fuel fees out and nets off retention discounts, ran at 5.3% of total revenue and 6.4% of related-business revenue, and the split inside that figure matters: 7.8% in the open market where Republic sets its own price, 4.1% in the restricted municipal book where contracts are indexed to published inflation measures. Cost of operations held at 57.9% of revenue and adjusted EBITDA margin held at 32.1%, absorbing 50 basis points of headwind from event-driven landfill volumes that did not repeat. What the market is paying for, at ~$67.6 billion of equity value and ~$81 billion of enterprise value, is a toll on waste that does not go away in a recession, delivered through an asset base that new entrants cannot permit. The bill for that comes as a beta of 0.40, a 1.2% dividend yield and a multiple in the low 30s on trailing earnings.

Environmental Solutions is the visible soft spot. First-half revenue in the segment fell to $863 million from $911 million and adjusted EBITDA to $171 million from $206 million, cutting the margin to 19.7% from 22.6%, which management attributes to a decline in event-based volumes. That business is ~10% of revenue and the most cyclical thing Republic owns, since emergency response, remediation and industrial field work depend on projects rather than routes. Recycled commodity pricing is a second swing factor: the average price per ton at Republic's recycling centers was $128 for the first half against $152 a year earlier, and the company estimates a $10 per ton move changes annual revenue and operating income by ~$13 million. Fuel cut the other way, at 3.9% of second-quarter revenue against 2.7%, with national average diesel at $5.35 per gallon versus $3.56, and while fuel recovery fees recouped most of it, they reprice on a lag. Leverage is real, if investment grade. Carrying value of total debt was $14.069 billion at June 30, 2026 against $13.581 billion at year end, interest expense guidance for 2026 is $605 million net, and June 2026 issuance priced at 4.750% for 2031 paper and 5.000% for 2036 paper, above the coupons on the maturities being refinanced. Accrued landfill and environmental costs totalled ~$2.8 billion, and remediation obligations at closed sites, including any future PFAS liability the industry has not yet sized, run off over decades rather than quarters. Republic itself names prolonged work stoppages among the factors that could change results. Finally, concentration: Cascade Investment's 35.5% stake removes a third of the shares from circulation, and any change to that position would be a large overhang for a stock with a 0.40 beta that many holders own as a bond substitute.

24 analysts publish price targets on RSG, averaging $245.92 against a $220.67 price as of August 2026, or +11.4%. The published targets run from $208.00 to $272.00, a narrow spread, and the ratings split 15 buy, 12 hold, 0 sell. Over the last six months there have been 7 raises and 4 cuts among the published actions. A price target is what an analyst published on a date, not a prediction, and sell-side ratings skew positive across the whole market.

Read the full RSG forecast and price target for the target table, the recent rating actions by firm, and how the consensus has shifted.

We give no verdict on Republic Services, Inc.. Both cases are real, which is why the question is contested at all, so here is the strongest version of each.

The case for buying. Price above cost inflation is the entire engine. Second-quarter core price of 5.3% on total revenue, and 6.4% on related-business revenue, ran well clear of the company's operating cost line, which stayed at 57.9% of revenue against 57.9% a year earlier. The most optimistic published target, $272.00, assumes this works close to its best case.

The case against. Environmental Solutions is the visible soft spot. The most pessimistic target, $208.00, is roughly what RSG is worth if this bites instead.

Read the full bull and bear case on RSG, including what would have to change to break either one. Walnut is not an investment adviser.

A simple financial snapshot. These are approximations and refresh quarterly; for current figures see Republic Services, Inc.'s investor relations page or your broker.

• 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.
• Cash flow and balance sheet: First-half cash from operations was $2.380 billion and adjusted free cash flow $1.583 billion, after $809 million of property and equipment received. Total assets were $35.159 billion at June 30, 2026, including $12.916 billion of net property and equipment against $107 million of cash. Carrying value of total debt was $14.069 billion, roughly 2.5 times guided 2026 adjusted EBITDA, with $2.6 billion available under the $3.5 billion revolver maturing July 2029.
• Market pricing: The stock traded at ~$220.67 in late August 2026 against a 52-week range of $196.41 to $237.06, for a market capitalization of ~$67.6 billion on ~306 million shares and an enterprise value near $81 billion. That works out to ~31 times trailing earnings, ~30 times the midpoint of guided 2026 adjusted EPS and ~14.7 times the midpoint of guided adjusted EBITDA. The annualized dividend of $2.68 yields ~1.2%, roughly 37% of guided adjusted earnings. Beta is ~0.40.

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.

Other names that sit close to RSG: same theme, named as a direct competitor, or held beside it in the same funds. Each entry says which. Worth a look if you are thinking about diversification within a thesis rather than concentration on one ticker.

There are three common ways to get RSG exposure. Buy shares (or fractional shares) directly at any major broker. Hold an ETF that includes it, which spreads the position across many companies. Or build it into a focused thematic portfolio, so RSG sits alongside other stocks that express the same thesis.

Walnut takes the portfolio route. Describe a thesis where RSG fits (for example “AI infrastructure” or “dividend-growth large-caps”) and the AI proposes 5 to 6 constituents with target weights. You review the plan and fund it through your own broker when you're ready.

New to this? Start with how to invest in stocks, see how to analyze a stock with AI, or compare the best AI stock analyzers.

As of August 2026 Republic Services trades around $220.67, roughly 30 times the $7.23 to $7.28 of adjusted earnings per share management guided to on August 6, and about 14.7 times the midpoint of guided 2026 adjusted EBITDA. The valuation rests on the durability of pricing, not on the growth of the end market, because the end market barely grows at all.

Whether RSG is worth buying today depends more on your time horizon and what you already hold than on any single call. We walk through valuation, what would have to go right, and the risks in is RSG a buy or a sell?, and where the stock could go from here in the RSG stock forecast.

For income investors, whether RSG pays a dividend and how the payout looks is covered in does RSG pay a dividend? And to weigh RSG against a peer, read the full side-by-side comparisons: RSG vs WM and RSG vs WCN.