Stericycle, Inc.

First-quarter revenue was $664.9 million, down from $684.3 million in Q1 2023. Adjusted EPS was $0.57 versus $0.49 a year ago, and adjusted EBITDA was $116.2 million, up $4.9 million year over year. Income from operations was $38.9 million versus $40.0 million, net income was $13.1 million versus $11.2 million, and diluted EPS was $0.14 versus $0.12. Regulated Waste and Compliance Services revenue was $447.8 million, with organic growth of 2.1%; Secure Information Destruction revenue was $217.1 million, with organic revenue down 6.3% as lower commodity-index revenue and roughly an $80 per ton decline in sorted office paper pricing weighed on results. Cash from operations was an outflow of $54.5 million and free cash flow was an outflow of $97.6 million, while capex was $43.1 million. Debt leverage was 3.51x at quarter end, and management expects to return to its long-term range of 2.5x to 3x later this year.

Cindy Miller framed the quarter as solid execution against priorities rather than a top-line breakout, emphasizing that Stericycle is pleased with results and is on track for full-year guidance. She highlighted three priorities: commercial/service excellence, operational excellence, and margin expansion, with the ERP now helping the company route better, improve productivity, and unlock new product capabilities. Her tone was confident and operationally focused, especially around route rebalancing, fleet reduction, facility upgrades, and the launch of ProtectPLUS.

Janet Zelenka focused on the financial bridge from revenue pressure to margin expansion. She cited revenue of $664.9 million, adjusted income from operations of $90.5 million or 13.6% of revenue, adjusted EPS of $0.57, and operating cash outflow of $54.5 million, explaining that cash was hit by ERP-related billing and collection delays, annual incentive payments, and working-capital timing. She said the company is on track for $40 million to $45 million of in-year cost savings, expects collections to improve in Q2, and still expects leverage to move back toward 2.5x to 3x later in the year.

Analysts focused heavily on three issues: whether Stericycle can still hit full-year EBITDA guidance, how quickly ERP-related receivables and cash flow will normalize, and how meaningful the new ProtectPLUS offering could become. Management said savings are coming from headcount actions, route rebalancing, and productivity gains, while cash collections are already stabilizing and should improve in Q2. On ProtectPLUS, management said the $2 million annualized revenue run-rate is from new customers only, with broader cross-sell to existing customers expected over the next few years as contracts renew.