Gillian Tan, Columnist

Garbage Sale

The Canadian trash processor is cheap relative to peers and profitable with good cash flows.

January 5, 2016 at 11:30 AM UTC

Gillian Tan is a senior reporter covering finance and alternative asset classes including real estate, infrastructure, private equity, private credit, venture capital and sports business. She previously wrote an opinion column for Bloomberg and was a reporter at the Wall Street Journal. She is a qualified chartered accountant.

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As the adage goes, one man's trash can be another's treasure. Canadian garbage company Progressive Waste Solutions, which according to Bloomberg News is exploring a sale, will be hoping potential suitors agree with that saying, literally.

A weakening Canadian dollar and higher costs caused the recycling and waste collector's U.S.-listed stock to fall 21.7 percent in 2015, meaning it finished the year trading at just 7.5 times its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization, or Ebitda. By that measure, it's one of the cheapest waste-management companies in North America.