Clean Harbors, Inc. CLH
Clean Harbors remains a premier hazardous-waste franchise with improving free cash flow ($438M in 2025 vs $346M in 2024) and accelerating institutional interest (smart money score rising from -0.056 to 0.200 over five quarters, fund count from 30 to 47), but the stock trades at 38.9x trailing earnings — a 56% premium to the peer median of 25.0x — against decelerating fundamentals: 2025 revenue grew just 2.4% while gross profit fell from $1.82B to $1.78B and EPS declined from $7.42 to $7.28. The $470M EnviroServe acquisition adds strategic scale but increases leverage on top of debt already at $3.45B (up from $3.04B YoY), and persistent net insider selling (-465K shares, -$124M over 24 months) tempers enthusiasm at these levels.
The raised 2026 guidance and $600M disposal contract are positive catalysts, but the valuation leaves no margin for execution missteps.
What could go wrong
- Margin compression. Gross profit declined from $1.82B in 2024 to $1.78B in 2025 despite revenue growth, signaling cost pressure that could worsen if disposal pricing softens.
- Valuation premium. PE of 38.9x is 56% above peer median of 25.0x and PS of 2.72x is 115% above peer median of 1.26x, leaving the stock vulnerable to any guidance miss.
- Rising leverage. Total debt increased to $3.45B in 2025 from $3.04B in 2024, and the $470M EnviroServe acquisition adds further cash outflow and integration risk.
- Insider selling. Net insider disposition of 465K shares worth $124M over 24 months with no cluster buys suggests limited insider conviction at current prices.
What would change my mind
Where this comes from: FMP fundamentals FY2024–FY2025 · FMP fundamentals FY2024–FY2025 · FMP fundamentals FY2024–FY2025 · peer_relative composite. Orin's read on CLH; not advice.
Twelve months actual closes to 2026-09-23 · actual filings
50-day average 200-day average · volume below
On file
All CLH filingsLargest holders · 13F Q2 2026
Money flow| Filer | Position | Of fund |
|---|---|---|
| Wellington Management Group Llp | $942.6M | 0.2% of fund |
| Fmr | $897.0M | 0.0% of fund |
| Vanguard Capital Management | $652.2M | 0.0% of fund |
| Vanguard Portfolio Management | $592.5M | 0.0% of fund |
| State Street | $472.6M | 0.0% of fund |
| Geode Capital Management | $337.4M | 0.0% of fund |
84 filers · quarter ended Q2 2026 · positions, not flows
Insiders, last 24 months: 203 Form 4 filings, net −$124.9M. Of the 50 on hand, 1 was an open-market purchase and 10 sales— the rest are grants, option exercises and tax withholding.
Ask Orin about CLH
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Start 3 free days →Where it trades
| Metric | Now | Own median | Sector |
|---|---|---|---|
| P/E | 37.9× | — | 44.5× |
| EV/EBITDA | 15.7× | — | — |
| P/S | 2.65× | — | — |
| P/B | 5.7× | — | — |
16.3%
free-cash-flow growth every year for 10 years, discounted at 10%, is what today’s price implies — starting from $0.4B of trailing free cash flow. It is an assumption the market is making, not a forecast Orin is making.
What Wall Street published
$353
$315 – $390 · +13% against today's price
- 18 buy or overweight
- 10 hold
- 0 underweight or sell
The analysts’ consensus and their own ratings, not Orin’s. A target is a twelve-month opinion published by the firm that wrote it.
Against the companies it is compared to
| Company | Market cap | P/E | EV/EBITDA | Gross | Net | ROE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CLHClean Harbors, Inc. | $17B | 37.9× | 15.7× | 26.6% | 7.0% | 16% |
| ARMKAramark | $15B | 38.2× | 15.0× | 6.6% | 1.9% | 12% |
| AYIAcuity Brands, Inc. | $9B | 19.8× | 12.0× | 49.3% | 10.3% | 17% |
| CRCrane Company | $12B | 35.3× | 22.5× | 41.7% | 13.0% | 16% |
| OCOwens Corning | $10B | — | 22.5× | 26.2% | -6.8% | -17% |
| SWKStanley Black & Decker, Inc. | $14B | 22.5× | 12.8× | 31.7% | 4.1% | 7% |
The median is of the 4 peers listed above and nothing else — check it against the column. This company trades 31.1% above it. The peer set is the vendor’s, so a company can appear here that a person would not have chosen.
What it has traded at
What its sector has traded at
Two scales, drawn separately on purpose: a sector median and one company’s multiple are not the same number and putting them on one axis invites a comparison neither series supports.
Every estimate on one scale
The vertical rule is the current price. Ranges and point estimates are the backend’s, published as they were calculated; an arrow means the estimate sits beyond this scale, and its number is on the right.