Waste Management profit falls 36% on low trash volume

Waste Management Inc., North America's largest trash hauler, said first-quarter profit fell 36 percent because of a drop in U.S. construction and lower prices for recycled materials.

Net income declined to $155 million, or 31 cents a share, from $241 million, or 48 cents, a year earlier, Houston-based Waste Management said today in a statement. Sales tumbled 14 percent to $2.81 billion.

Chief Executive Officer David Steiner is cutting costs and dropping unprofitable customers to weather a decline in demand for construction-debris removal. Construction spending in the U.S. fell about 12 percent in February from a year before to $67.6 billion, according to Commerce Department data.

"The fourth quarter volume declines that we saw in our more economically sensitive industrial collection, landfill, transfer and recycling businesses continued into 2009," Steiner said in the statement. "We expect volumes in these economically sensitive lines of business to remain soft in 2009."

Profit excluding one-time items was 42 cents a share, the company said. Seven analysts in a Bloomberg survey estimated profit would be 41 cents, on average.

Waste Management rose 38 cents, or 1.4 percent, to $26.98 yesterday in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares have declined 19 percent this year.