Quality Investor

Clean Harbors, Inc.

Rank #302ValueWatchlistCompare with other stocks

CLH · NYSE · Industrials

Clean Harbors, Inc. (CLH) — Rank #302 by gross profitability (GP/assets 0.23) · ROE 12.5% · Piotroski F-Score 7 / 9.

As-of 2026-10-30 · CIK 0000822818 · all metrics point-in-time as of the filing date.

About

Clean Harbors, Inc. provides environmental and industrial services in the United States and Canada.

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The company operates through two segments: Environmental Services and Safety-Kleen Sustainability Solutions. The Environmental Services segment collects, transports, treats, recycles, and disposes hazardous and non-hazardous waste, such as resource recovery, physical treatment, incineration, landfill disposal, wastewater treatment, lab chemicals disposal, and explosives management services; and offers CleanPack services, including collection, identification, categorization, specialized packaging, transportation, and disposal of laboratory chemicals and household hazardous waste. This segment also provides industrial maintenance and specialty industrial services; and utilizes specialty equipment and resources that perform field services. The Safety-Kleen Sustainability Solutions segment provides containerized waste, parts-washer, and vacuum services for automobile repair shops, car and truck dealers, metal fabricators, machine manufacturers, fleet maintenance shops, and other automotive, industrial, and retail customers; collects and transports for hazardous and non-hazardous containerized waste for recycling or disposal; machine cleaning and maintenance, and disposal and replenishment of clean solvent or aqueous fluids; and vacuum services to remove solids, residual oily water, and sludge and other fluids from customers' oil/water separators, sumps, and collection tanks, as well as removes and collects waste fluids found at large and small industrial locations, including metal fabricators, auto maintenance providers, and general manufacturers. This segment also manufactures, formulates, and packages lubricants and other products. Clean Harbors, Inc.

was incorporated in 1980 and is headquartered in Norwell, Massachusetts.

Industry
Waste Management
Sector
Industrials
State
MA
Filer Category
Large accelerated filer
Fiscal Year End
December 31

Company Snapshot

P/E and dividend yield are the primary valuation lenses for mature businesses.

Market Cap

—

P/E (annual)

—

P/S (annual)

—

P/B

—

P/OCF (annual)

—

Shareholder Yield

—

Employees

22,155

Industry

Waste Management

Exchange

NYSE

11/12

Flags passed

CLH fails 1 critical flag

Passes 11 of 12 quality flags

  • FAIL
    Operating margin declining

    Operating margin lower than prior year

  • PASS
    Gross margin holding
  • PASS
    Dilution within 2%
  • PASS
    FCF not negative from investment
  • PASS
    Disclosure consistent
  • PASS
    Revenue not declining
  • PASS
    Free cash flow intact
  • PASS
    Passes safety gate
  • PASS
    Balance sheet stable
  • PASS
    No competitive retreat
  • PASS
    SBC not compressing margin
  • PASS
    No valuation convergence

Strengths Sequential beat (rev + EPS)

A count of the 12 warning flags that could be evaluated. Unweighted: colour follows the worst flag.

Quality Profile

Profitability

1/1 pass
GP / assets
0.23
Return on equity
12.5%
Gross margin trend
PASS

Safety

1/1 pass
Balance-sheet safety
PASS
Debt / equity
1.66
Current ratio
1.95×
Net cash
-$2.37B

Cash Flow

3/3 pass
Positive FCF
PASS
Cash-backed earnings
PASS
Accruals healthy
PASS
SBC / revenue
0.5%

Growth

2/2 pass
Revenue growth
2.4%
Piotroski F-Score
7 / 9
Share dilution
-0.9%

Dividend yield and payout ratio are the primary reads at this stage (trailing P/E — see valuation above).

Profitability

Does it make money well?

Warning: Operating margin declining · GP/assets 0.23

Gross profitability (GP / assets)

0.23

Primary signal (Novy-Marx).

4th of 8 SIC 49 peers

Return on equity

12.5%

Gross margin

31.3%

3rd of 8 SIC 49 peers

Revenue growth (YoY)

2.4%

Gross margin improving

Margin trend vs prior year.

PASS

Operating Leverage

2022202320242025
Revenue vs COGS
Revenue vs OpEx
Op. Income vs Revenue

Growth

Revenue CAGR (3Y)

5.3%

Revenue CAGR (5Y)

13.9%

Earnings CAGR (3Y)

-1.7%

FCF CAGR (3Y)

16.3%

Cash Flow Health

Is the cash real?

No warning flags · FCF 13% above net income

Free cash flow

$441.81M

Operating cash flow minus capex.

Positive free cash flow

PASS

FCF vs net income

13.0%

(FCF − net income) ÷ |net income|. Positive: cash above earnings. Negative: below.

FCF not below net income

Fails when free cash flow is below net income (yellow flag).

PASS

Accruals healthy

Cash-backed earnings.

PASS

SBC / revenue

0.5%

Stock-based comp intensity.

Balance Sheet Strength

Can it survive a storm?

No warning flags · net debt $2.37B, F-Score 7/9

Balance-sheet safety

Composite anti-fragile check.

PASS

Debt / equity

1.66

2nd of 5 SIC 49 peers (best = lowest)

Current ratio

1.95×

2nd of 8 SIC 49 peers

Quick ratio

1.39×

Net cash

-$2.37B

Cash & equivalents minus total debt.

Piotroski F-Score

7 / 9

Fundamental-strength score (0-9).

Valuation

Is the price reasonable?

No warning flags

Capital allocation quality

Composite score

3.3 / 5

Good
Share count trend(net buybacks)
-0.9%3/5 Good
Buyback timing
N/AN/A
Dividend growth consistency(non-payer or broken streak)
0 yr3/5 Good
Net debt trajectory(deleveraging)
2.3%4/5 Strong

Lifecycle Phase History

20202025
Value
Hypergrowth

Price History

CLH+213.0% · +25.6% CAGRSPY+82.9% · +12.8% CAGR