Critical Analysis: Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) vs. GD Culture Group (NASDAQ:GDC)

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) and GD Culture Group (NASDAQ:GDC) are both business services companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, risk, valuation, institutional ownership, profitability and dividends.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings for Waste Connections and GD Culture Group, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Waste Connections	0	4	14	4	3.00
GD Culture Group	1	0	0	0	1.00

Waste Connections presently has a consensus price target of $203.75, indicating a potential upside of 25.26%. Given Waste Connections’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Waste Connections is more favorable than GD Culture Group.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Waste Connections and GD Culture Group”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Waste Connections	$9.47 billion	4.39	$1.08 billion	$4.17	39.01
GD Culture Group	N/A	N/A	-$13.84 million	$0.10	35.50

Waste Connections has higher revenue and earnings than GD Culture Group. GD Culture Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Waste Connections, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

86.1% of Waste Connections shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.6% of GD Culture Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of Waste Connections shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.5% of GD Culture Group shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Waste Connections and GD Culture Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Waste Connections	11.37%	16.25%	6.41%
GD Culture Group	N/A	-4.20%	-4.15%

Risk and Volatility

Waste Connections has a beta of 0.62, meaning that its stock price is 38% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, GD Culture Group has a beta of 1.84, meaning that its stock price is 84% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Waste Connections beats GD Culture Group on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Waste Connections

Waste Connections, Inc. provides non-hazardous waste collection, transfer, disposal, and resource recovery services in the United States and Canada. It offers collection services to residential, commercial, municipal, industrial, and exploration and production (E&P) customers; landfill disposal services; and recycling services for various recyclable materials, including compost, cardboard, mixed paper, plastic containers, glass bottles, and ferrous and aluminum metals. The company owns and operates transfer stations that receive compact and/or load waste to be transported to landfills or treatment facilities through truck, rail, or barge; and intermodal services for the rail haul movement of cargo and solid waste containers in the Pacific Northwest through a network of intermodal facilities. In addition, it provides E&P waste treatment, recovery, and disposal services for waste resulting from oil and natural gas exploration and production activity, such as drilling fluids, drill cuttings, completion fluids, and flowback water; production wastes and produced water during a well's operating life; contaminated soils that require treatment during site reclamation; and substances, which require clean-up after a spill, reserve pit clean-up, or pipeline rupture. Further, the company offers leasing services to its customers. Waste Connections, Inc. was founded in 1997 and is based in Woodbridge, Canada.

About GD Culture Group

GD Culture Group Limited operates as an integrated marketing service agency. The company focuses on enterprise brand management, crisis public relations, intelligent public opinion monitoring, media PR, financial and economic we-media operation, digital face application, exhibition services, and other businesses. It also publishes books in corporate history, finance, and economics, as well as plans and organizes online and offline activities, such as new book launches and book sharing sessions to promote new books and build influence and reputation for the corporate clients. The company was formerly known as Code Chain New Continent Limited and changed its name to GD Culture Group Limited in January 2023. GD Culture Group Limited is based in Wan Chai, Hong Kong.