Clean Harbors
CLH on NYSE. Clean Harbors collects, treats, recycles and disposes waste for industrial and commercial customers. Market value $17.0bn.
Price checks use the past 12 months to June 2026. Quality checks use five annual reports, the latest for the year to December 2025.
Should I look at this?
Good business, but not cheap right now
Why it could be worth it
What to watch out for
See cheaper Industrials stocks on the list
This is not advice. Check the numbers below.
For every $100 of what the whole company costs, it produced $2.71 of spare cash in the past 12 months. A savings account pays about $4.
You pay 26.2 years of operating profit for the business. The average large US company costs around 18.
Each dollar kept in the business earns 11 cents a year. Above 10 is good.
Quality score: 88 of 100. Price score: 36 of 100. Our list needs 70 on quality and 60 on price.
$322.37 a share, 60% above its 1-year low
Over the past year the price has ranged from $201.34 to $335.94.
Pays no dividend
Prices from Monday’s close (5 October).
Five years of cash, in billions
| Revenue | |||||
| Revenue | $3.8bn | $5.2bn | $5.4bn | $5.9bn | $6.0bn |
| Operating margin | |||||
| Operating margin | 9.1% | 12.3% | 11.3% | 11.4% | 11.2% |
| Debt to equity | |||||
| Debt to equity | 1.73 | 1.31 | 1.08 | 1.16 | 1.09 |
| Shares outstanding | |||||
| Shares outstanding | 0.05bn | 0.05bn | 0.05bn | 0.05bn | 0.05bn |
Health checks
- Free cash flow positive5 of 5 years
- Accounting looks honest (Beneish)Nothing unusual
- Financial strength (Piotroski)7 of 9
- Profit backed by cash (accruals)Yes
- Debt1.09× equity
- Revenue growth, five yearsStrong, 13.9% a year
- Buying back its own sharesYes, 2% fewer since 2021
The quarter to June 2026
How the business did, compared with the same quarter a year earlier.
- Sales: $1.7 billion last quarter, up 12% on a year ago.
- Profit: $170 million, up 34% on a year ago.
- It keeps 12 cents of each $1 of sales as operating profit, up from 11 cents a year earlier.
- Spare cash over the past 12 months: $462 million, up from $385 million.
- 2% fewer shares than a year ago. Each share owns a bit more of the company.
- Debt is $2.4 billion more than cash, up from $2.2 billion a year ago.
- Sales grew on a year ago in each of the last 4 quarters.
| Quarter to | Amount |
|---|---|
| September 2024 | $1.5bn |
| December 2024 | $1.4bn |
| March 2025 | $1.4bn |
| June 2025 | $1.5bn |
| September 2025 | $1.5bn |
| December 2025 | $1.5bn |
| March 2026 | $1.5bn |
| June 2026 | $1.7bn |
| Quarter to | Amount |
|---|---|
| September 2024 | $115m |
| December 2024 | $84m |
| March 2025 | $59m |
| June 2025 | $127m |
| September 2025 | $119m |
| December 2025 | $87m |
| March 2026 | $63m |
| June 2026 | $170m |
From the company's quarterly reports to the SEC.
Dates
- Next results (estimated)
- n/a
- Last annual report (10-K)
- 18 February 2026
- Next quarterly (estimated, 10-Q)
- 28 October 2026
Who owns it
4 long-term investors we follow own it, unchanged from 4 last quarter. 660 funds in all.
- GMOJeremy Grantham
- Value
- $40m
- Share of fund
- <0.1%
| Fund | Value | Share of that fund | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Select Equity GroupGeorge Loening | $218m | 1.2% | Cut |
| GMOJeremy Grantham | $40m | <0.1% | |
| Gotham Asset ManagementJoel Greenblatt | $35m | <0.1% | Cut |
| First Eagle Investment ManagementMatthew McLennan | $2m | <0.1% | Added |
Largest holders overall
- BlackRock$1.5bnAdded
- Wellington Management Group LLP$943mCut
- FMR$897mAdded
- Vanguard Capital Management$652m
- Vanguard Portfolio Management$593m
- Jupiter Topco$478m
- State Street$473mAdded
- D1 Capital Partners L.P.$393m
- Geode Capital Management$337mAdded
- Clearbridge Investments$337mCut
From 13F filings for the quarter ended 30 June 2026.
Big holders and activists
3 investors own more than 5%.
- Wellington Management Group LLPPassive investorat least 6.8%−2.9 pts(filed with 3 related holders)Since 31 March 2026
- FMR LLCPassive investorat least 5.7%(filed with 1 related holder)Since 30 June 2026
- D1 Capital Partners L.P.Passive investorat least 2.5%−2.7 pts(filed with 1 related holder)Since 31 March 2026
- The Vanguard GroupPassive investorSold down below 5%Since 13 March 2026
| Holder | Stake | Since | |
|---|---|---|---|
Wellington Management Group LLP Passive investor | at least 6.8%−2.9 pts (filed with 3 related holders) | 31 March 2026 | |
FMR LLC Passive investor | at least 5.7% (filed with 1 related holder) | 30 June 2026 | |
D1 Capital Partners L.P. Passive investor | at least 2.5%−2.7 pts (filed with 1 related holder) | 31 March 2026 | |
The Vanguard Group Passive investor | Sold down below 5% | 13 March 2026 |
From Schedule 13D and 13G filings: anyone owning more than 5% must file one.
What insiders did
In the last 12 months, 1 insider bought $135,760 of shares on the open market. 9 sold $63m.
- GERSTENBERG ERIC WCO-CEOSold
- Date
- 14 August 2026
- Shares
- 2,500
- Price
- $321.34
- Value
- $803,350
- Robertson AndreaDirectorSold
- Date
- 3 August 2026
- Shares
- 789
- Price
- $314.01
- Value
- $247,754
- States LaurenDirectorSold
- Date
- 26 May 2026
- Shares
- 789
- Price
- $286.19
- Value
- $225,804
- Polito KarynDirectorBought
- Date
- 11 May 2026
- Shares
- 460
- Price
- $295.13
- Value
- $135,760
- GERSTENBERG ERIC WCO-CEOSold
- Date
- 18 March 2026
- Shares
- 1,000
- Price
- $293.00
- Value
- $293,000
- Reed Marcy L.DirectorSold
- Date
- 18 March 2026
- Shares
- 836
- Price
- $287.94
- Value
- $240,718
- Weber Brian PEVP (CHESI)Sold
- Date
- 17 March 2026
- Shares
- 4,683
- Price
- $293.39
- Value
- $1m
- MCKIM ALAN SEXEC CHAIR, CTO., DirectorSold
- Date
- 4 March 2026
- Shares
- 100,000
- Price
- $292.65
- Value
- $29m
- GERSTENBERG ERIC WCO-CEOSold
- Date
- 23 February 2026
- Shares
- 2,500
- Price
- $279.86
- Value
- $699,650
- Dugas Eric J.EVP CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICERSold
- Date
- 20 February 2026
- Shares
- 2,788
- Price
- $281.31
- Value
- $784,292
| Date | Who | Did | Shares | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 August 2026 | GERSTENBERG ERIC W CO-CEO | Sold | 2,500 | $321.34 | $803,350 |
| 3 August 2026 | Robertson Andrea Director | Sold | 789 | $314.01 | $247,754 |
| 26 May 2026 | States Lauren Director | Sold | 789 | $286.19 | $225,804 |
| 11 May 2026 | Polito Karyn Director | Bought | 460 | $295.13 | $135,760 |
| 18 March 2026 | GERSTENBERG ERIC W CO-CEO | Sold | 1,000 | $293.00 | $293,000 |
| 18 March 2026 | Reed Marcy L. Director | Sold | 836 | $287.94 | $240,718 |
| 17 March 2026 | Weber Brian P EVP (CHESI) | Sold | 4,683 | $293.39 | $1m |
| 4 March 2026 | MCKIM ALAN S EXEC CHAIR, CTO., Director | Sold | 100,000 | $292.65 | $29m |
| 23 February 2026 | GERSTENBERG ERIC W CO-CEO | Sold | 2,500 | $279.86 | $699,650 |
| 20 February 2026 | Dugas Eric J. EVP CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER | Sold | 2,788 | $281.31 | $784,292 |
From Form 4 filings: insiders must report trades in their own company's shares within two days.
Warning signs in its filings
Problems the company itself reported to the SEC, in its own words.
None of the warning signs we check for were found.
We look for five warning signs: doubt it can keep going, weak checks on its own accounts, a notice that its past accounts can't be relied on, a change of auditor, and one customer bringing in a big share of sales. We don't check lawsuits, investigations or debt yet.
We checked the auditor's report, internal controls, restatement notices, auditor changes and big customers in the 10-K filed 18 Feb 2026, plus the 10-Q filed 29 Jul 2026 and 7 later 8-Ks.
A 10-K is the yearly report every US company files with the SEC. An 8-K is a short notice of a big event.
What could go wrong
- It isn't cheap on profits: 26.2× operating profit.
Whether the price already reflects the risks is what the deep dive is for.
The deep dive
Everything above is arithmetic on public filings. The deep dive reads the last ten years of annual reports, the proxy statements, and the earnings calls, then argues the case the way Buffett, Klarman, and Hohn would, and checks every claim against the source.
- What the business is worth, as a range, and the margin of safety at today’s price
- Prices to start buying, buy, and buy hard
- The three things that would make this a mistake
- Every number footnoted to the filing it came from
Your first deep dive is free.
Not advice. Numbers on this page come from SEC filings and are updated each night; prices are updated again after the US market closes. The five-year figures are rounded.