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Clean Harbors

CLH
45
Waste Management · Industrials
Price
$310.58
+0.01 (+0.00%)
Market Cap
$16.41B
Winston Score
45
Winston is serious
Mixed quality — meaningful strengths and weaknesses.

Share count falling — buybacks

2.5% over 4y

The company has reduced its share count over this period, returning value to shareholders through buybacks.

Diluted shares outstanding: 54.8M (2021) → 53.4M (2025)

Clean Harbors helps businesses safely get rid of dangerous waste. This includes things like toxic chemicals, contaminated soil, and used motor oil. Their customers are factories, hospitals, oil companies, and government agencies — basically anyone who produces hazardous materials that cannot simply be thrown in a regular trash bin.

The company makes money by charging fees to collect, transport, treat, and dispose of hazardous waste. It also runs a large used oil re-refining business under the Safety-Kleen brand, turning waste oil back into usable lubricants. Clean Harbors operates mainly across North America, with hundreds of facilities in the United States and Canada, making it one of the largest hazardous waste companies on the continent. Its network of permitted disposal facilities is hard to replicate because getting government approval to build new hazardous waste sites takes years, which protects it from new competitors. The key growth driver is increasing environmental regulation, though a slowdown in industrial activity could reduce the volume of waste its customers generate.

Winston Score History

Politician Trades

5 trades / 12mo

2 Congressional buys and 3 sells on CLH in the last 12 months.

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Growth Profile

When traditional metrics don't capture the full picture, these are the signals growth stock investors use instead.

Revenue Growth

+1.9% YoY

YoY Growth Rate

Slow revenue growth

EPS Growth

+10.1% YoY

YoY Growth Rate

Steady EPS growth

R&D Spend

$0/ year

0.0% of revenue

Below sector average (4%)

Research and development spending

Insider Activity

5.2%ownership

Flat

Insiders holding steady — not selling despite ability to

Cash Runway

~18 months

$548M cash & investments

Quarterly Free Cash Flow

↓ Burn rate worsening

Adequate runway but may need to raise capital within 2 years

Growth context

Clean Harbors is growing revenue at 2% year-over-year. The Winston Score measures business quality today — these growth metrics show what could matter tomorrow.

The Winston Score above measures business quality today. Growth stocks often score lower because they invest in the future rather than maximising current profits. These metrics show what matters most for evaluating that future.

Score breakdown

Every number that matters to educated investors.

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Quality

Gross Margin
22.3%
Thin — 22.3% gross margin
Operating Margin
8.1%
Modest — 8.1% operating margin
ROCE
2.1%
Weak — 2.1% return on capital

ROIC between 0% and 5%. They earn a few cents back per dollar invested in the business.

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Growth

Sales YoY
+1.9%
Nearly flat sales (1.9% YoY)
EPS YoY
+2.2%
Flat earnings

Single-digit earnings growth — steady but not exciting.

EPS Consistency
6/8 quarters
Earnings grew in most of the last 8 quarters

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Cash Flow

Cash Conversion
220%
Turns 220% of profit into real cash
FCF Margin
7.7%
Modest free cash flow (7.7%)

FCF margin between 0% and 10%. Some cash from sales, but not a lot.

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Stability

Debt / Equity
1.03
Elevated debt (1.03)
Interest Cover
4.09x
Adequate interest coverage (4.1x)

Interest coverage between 3 and 8. Profits cover interest several times over.

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Valuation

P/E Ratio (TTM)
41.9x
Pricey — P/E 41.9

P/E over 35. The market is pricing in heavy, sustained growth.

P/E vs Forward
+14.6
GROWING
Earnings expected to grow meaningfully — cheaper on forward P/E (41.9 → 27.3)

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Dividends

Not applicable for this business.
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