Is CWST a high-quality business?

AlphaMadera's AlphaQuality grade scores Casella Waste Systems, Inc. on six pillars — profitability, capital efficiency, balance-sheet strength, growth durability, cash generation, and shareholder yield. The composite letter grade reflects how CWST compares to a Buffett-style quality bar.

What is Casella Waste Systems, Inc.'s AlphaQuality grade?

AlphaQuality assigns a letter grade (A through F) to CWST based on a six-pillar quantitative model. The live page shows the composite grade plus each pillar's individual score with the underlying metrics.

What makes CWST a quality stock?

AlphaQuality looks at return on capital, free-cash-flow margins, debt-to-equity, revenue stability, dividend and buyback policy, and operating-margin trend. Stocks scoring well across all six pillars earn higher grades — the methodology favors compounders over cyclicals.

CWST - Casella Waste Systems, Inc.

Price: -- -- | CONSENSUS: Buy DETAILS | PRICE TARGET: $112.33 DETAILS

AlphaQuality

Quantitative six-pillar business-quality grade

Platform & Compounding FCF

AlphaQuality — archetype-weighted quantitative grade

D+ 41.0 / 100 composite

Composite Grade

Composite of six pillars weighted for platform & compounding fcf businesses. Purely quantitative — no stock price or analyst input.

Profitability

Weight: 25%

F 18.0

5yr Avg ROIC 1.8% 19/100
Operating Margin Trend -1.20 pp/yr 16/100

Capital Efficiency

Weight: 15%

F 12.3

5yr Avg ROE 1.8% 19/100
5yr Share-Count CAGR 5.4% 0/100

Growth Quality

Weight: 25%

B- 64.9

5yr Revenue CAGR 19.9% 100/100
5yr EPS CAGR -37.8% 0/100
Revenue-Growth Years (5) 5/5 100/100

Cash Generation

Weight: 20%

C+ 59.1

5yr FCF Margin 6.1% 54/100
5yr FCF/NI Conversion 4.54x 65/100

Balance Sheet

Weight: 10%

D+ 43.6

Net Debt / EBITDA 2.83x 53/100
Interest Coverage (EBIT/Int) 1.22x 16/100
Altman Z-Score 2.56 59/100

Stability

Weight: 5%

D+ 43.9

EPS Volatility (σ/μ) 0.88 5/100
Piotroski F-Score 5 56/100
Negative-Revenue Years (5) 0/5 100/100

Not enough curated-guru data to call a flow.

Cooperman sold -100%
Wood new

How this is calculated

AlphaQuality grades six pillars from 0-100 and weights each by archetype:

Profitability (25%) — 5yr Avg ROIC, Operating Margin Trend
Capital Efficiency (15%) — 5yr Avg ROE, 5yr Share-Count CAGR
Growth Quality (25%) — 5yr Revenue CAGR, 5yr EPS CAGR, Revenue-Growth Years (5)
Cash Generation (20%) — 5yr FCF Margin, 5yr FCF/NI Conversion
Balance Sheet (10%) — Net Debt / EBITDA, Interest Coverage (EBIT/Int), Altman Z-Score
Stability (5%) — EPS Volatility (σ/μ), Piotroski F-Score, Negative-Revenue Years (5)

We deliberately ignore stock price, analyst targets, and consensus ratings so the grade is suitable for backtesting forward returns. A minimum of 5 fiscal years of audited statements is required; distressed and highly leveraged infrastructure businesses are declared ungradable rather than forced into a numeric score.