Clean Harbors, Inc.CLH
NYSE•Industrials•Waste Management
Clean Harbors, Inc. provides environmental and industrial services in the United States and Canada. 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.
Clean Harbors, Inc. (CLH) reported trailing twelve months revenue of $6.06B as of March 2026, a 1.9% increase year-over-year. Quarterly revenue reached $1.46B, reflecting continued top-line momentum.
Clean Harbors, Inc. generated $395.50M in TTM net income, with quarterly EBITDA of $234.73M. The operating margin expanded from 7.8% to 8.1%, suggesting improving cost efficiency and pricing discipline.
The spread between operating margin (8.1%) and net margin (4.3%) indicates tight cost control with minimal non-operating drag. Net margin has improved from 4.1% a year ago, signaling stronger bottom-line efficiency.
CLH trades at a P/E of 37.4x (a premium multiple) and a P/S of 2.4x. The price-to-book ratio of 5.3x indicates a significant premium over book value.
The company reported negative free cash flow of $-92.15M, indicating cash consumption over the period. The balance sheet shows $7.55B in total assets with $2.76B in long-term debt against $2.78B in stockholders equity for a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.0. Data based on the most recent quarterly reports.
Competitive analysis based on 21 quarters of fundamental data
Operating margins are expanding at ~11.1%, suggesting durable pricing power and cost discipline.
ROE averages 15.0% but has fluctuated — the competitive advantage may be cyclical or emerging.
6 of the last 8 quarters generated positive FCF. The company generally funds itself but has occasional cash consumption quarters.
TTM revenue has grown consistently (6 of 7 quarters up), with ~7.5% growth over the period. Strong demand durability.
Data-driven red flags and warnings across 21 quarters
Margins are stable or improving at ~11.2% — no sign of cost or pricing stress.
FCF/Net Income has dropped below 0.7x in 3 quarters — monitor for earnings quality deterioration.
D/E ratio is 1.0 — conservative capital structure with low financial risk.
Revenue is stable or growing over recent quarters — demand appears durable.
FCF turned negative in 2 of the last 8 quarters — occasional cash consumption.
Shares decreased 2.1% — net buybacks are reducing shares outstanding and boosting per-share value.