Earnings Preview: Allied Waste Industries

Allied Waste Industries (AW) is expected to report Q3 earnings after market close Wednesday, October 29, with a conference call scheduled for 5:00 pm. A

Guidance

nalysts are looking for EPS of 26c on revenue of $1.59B. The consensus is 24c to 28c for EPS, and revenue of $1.58B to $1.61B, according to First Call. Allied Waste stated when it reported its Q2 earnings results that it expects FY08 operating income at the high end range of $1.145B to $1.185B.

The company and Republic Services have been in merger discussions since June. On October 16 they announced that they substantially completed integration planning related to the merger. The companies expect to complete the merger in Q4 of 2008. The companies are confident that they will meet the projected $150M of merger synergies in the third year following completion of the transaction.

Analyst Views

Allied Waste was upgraded to Strong Buy from Market Perform by Raymond James last month. But on October 20 the company was removed from the Goldman Sachs Conviction Buy List.