At a glance
Clean Harbors Inc is worth $16.52B, about 43 times its fiscal 2025 earnings. Revenue grew 2.4% to $6.03B in fiscal 2025, with 6.5% kept as profit; over 5 years it has grown 13.9% a year. It pays no dividend; it spent $460.9M buying back its shares over FY2021–FY2025. The stock returned +27.2% over the past year with dividends reinvested and +22.8% a year over five years, against +11.5% and +11.7% for the S&P 500. At its worst it fell 64.5% in the 2020 crash (S&P 500: 33.7%) and 26.6% in the 2022 bear market (S&P 500: 24.5%), and was back at its earlier high 11 months and 2 months after the lows.
The business in plain English
Clean Harbors handles hazardous and non-hazardous waste for businesses and governments across the United States and Canada. It collects the waste with a fleet of more than 20,000 vehicles. It then treats, recycles or disposes of it at a network of over 100 facilities. These include ten commercial hazardous waste incinerators, the most run by any company in North America, and seven landfills, six of which can accept hazardous waste. Such sites need heavy investment and government permits, which makes them hard to copy.
The Environmental Services segment brought in $5.15 billion, or 85% of the $6.03 billion in revenue for the year ended December 31, 2025. Besides disposal, it earns fees for emergency spill response, plant maintenance and cleanup of PFAS, a group of long-lasting industrial chemicals. The Safety-Kleen Sustainability Solutions segment, 15% of revenue, collects used motor oil and oil filters. It re-refines the oil into base oil (the main ingredient of motor oil) and lubricants for resale. It collected 243 million gallons of used oil in 2025, and its results swing with oil prices.
Customers range from small companies to Fortune 500 firms and government agencies. In 2025, general manufacturing and chemical customers each made up 14% of revenue, refineries 12% and automotive 10%. The United States supplied 91% of revenue and Canada 9%.
Price history
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CLH +27.2% over the year to Oct 28, 2026, total return with dividends reinvested.
How it makes money
By business segment
| Environmental Services | $5.15B | 85.3% |
| Safety-Kleen Sustainability Solutions | $884.3M | 14.7% |
By geography
| United States | $5.49B | 91% |
| Canada | $540.0M | 9% |
Latest results
- In Q3 FY2026 (ended Sep 30, 2026), revenue was $1.87B, up 20.7% from a year earlier, and net income was $208.1M (+75.2%).
- For fiscal 2025, revenue was $6.03B (+2.4% year over year; +13.9% a year from FY2020 to FY2025) with a 6.5% net margin.
Financial health check
| Revenue growth a year (FY2020–FY2025) | +13.9% good |
|---|---|
| Operating margin | 11.2% watch |
| Free cash flow margin | 7.3% watch |
| Return on equity (FY2025) | 14.2% watch |
| Return on assets (FY2025) | 5.1% watch |
| Net cash (cash minus debt) | $-2.37B weak |
| Fiscal year | Revenue | Net income | Free cash flow |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2020 | $3.14B | $134.8M | $234.3M |
| FY2021 | $3.81B | $203.2M | $304.1M |
| FY2022 | $5.17B | $411.7M | $281.2M |
| FY2023 | $5.41B | $377.9M | $312.3M |
| FY2024 | $5.89B | $402.3M | $345.5M |
| FY2025 | $6.03B | $391.0M | $441.8M |
Valuation snapshot
| Market value | $16.52B |
|---|---|
| P/E ratio | 43 |
| Dividend yield | 0% |
Rank among 1514 US companies
Market value at each year end
Clean Harbors’s market value went from $3.19B at the end of 2016 to $16.52B on Oct 28, 2026, about 5.2 times as much; since the end of 2025 it is up 32%.
Show as a table
| Year end | Market value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 28, 2026 | $16.52B | +31.8% |
| 2025 | $12.53B | +1.0% |
| 2024 | $12.40B | +31.4% |
| 2023 | $9.44B | +53.0% |
| 2022 | $6.17B | +13.7% |
| 2021 | $5.43B | +29.1% |
| 2020 | $4.20B | -12.1% |
| 2019 | $4.79B | +73.1% |
| 2018 | $2.76B | -10.4% |
| 2017 | $3.09B | -3.4% |
| 2016 | $3.19B |
Price behavior
| YTD | 1 yr | 3 yr | 5 yr | 10 yr | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CLH price data to Oct 28, 2026 | +33.6% | +27.2% | +27.5% | +22.8% | +20.9% |
Show as a table
| Year | Price data |
|---|---|
| 2026 (to date) | +33.6% |
| 2025 | +1.9% |
| 2024 | +31.9% |
| 2023 | +52.9% |
| 2022 | +14.4% |
| 2021 | +31.1% |
| 2020 | -11.3% |
| 2019 | +73.8% |
| 2018 | -8.9% |
| 2017 | -2.6% |
| 2016 | +33.6% |
| 2015 | -13.3% |
| 2014 | -19.9% |
| 2013 | +9.0% |
| 2012 | -13.7% |
| 2011 | +51.6% |
| 2010 | +41.0% |
| 2009 | -6.0% |
| 2008 | +22.7% |
| 2007 | +8.7% |
| 2006 | +72.2% |
| 2008 financial crisis stocks fell Oct 9, 2007 – Mar 9, 2009 | Lost 11% over that stretch · deepest drop along the way 48.7%, back to its old high 21.4 months after the low |
|---|---|
| 2020 COVID crash stocks fell Feb 19, 2020 – Mar 23, 2020 | Lost 54.8% over that stretch · deepest drop along the way 64.5%, back to its old high 11.3 months after the low |
| 2022 bear market stocks fell Jan 3, 2022 – Oct 12, 2022 | Gained 15.5% over that stretch · deepest drop along the way 26.6%, back to its old high 1.8 months after the low |
Insider activity
Form 4 filings from 2025-11-03 to 2026-11-03 (25 read): 1 open-market purchases ($39K) and 3 sales ($1.3M).
| Date | Insider | Type | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 14, 2026 | Eric W Gerstenberg CO-CEO | sell | $803K |
| Aug 3, 2026 | Andrea Robertson Director | sell | $248K |
| May 26, 2026 | Lauren States Director | sell | $226K |
| Oct 29, 2026 | Karyn Polito Director | buy | $39K |
Who owns it
Large shareholders (13G filings)
| Wellington Management Group LLP | 6.8% | Mar 31, 2026 |
| FMR LLC | 5.7% | Jun 30, 2026 |
| D1 Capital Partners L.P. | 2.5% | Mar 31, 2026 |
ETFs with the most weight in CLH
| EVX VanEck Environmental Services ETF | 4.29% |
| RSHO Tema American Reshoring ETF | 4.16% |
| EFRA iShares Environmental Infrastructure and Industrials ETF | 3.92% |
| AIRR First Trust RBA American Industrial Renaissance ETF | 3.01% |
| SMCO Hilton Small-MidCap Opportunity ETF | 2.57% |
| UPGR Xtrackers US Green Infrastructure Select Equity ETF | 2.43% |
| QMID WisdomTree U.S. MidCap Quality Growth Fund | 1.14% |
| RFG Invesco S&P MidCap 400® Pure Growth ETF | 1.11% |
What could go wrong
- Accidents at hazardous waste facilities. Equipment failures or disasters at incinerators, landfills or job sites could release hazardous materials, injure workers or force shutdowns. Lost permits, damage to its reputation and uninsured losses could follow.
- Large environmental liabilities from waste handling. Handling hazardous waste can leave the company liable for pollution and environmental damage. Its insurance, and the money it sets aside to pay claims itself, may fall short, and coverage costs may rise.
- Emergency response demand is unpredictable. Much of the business depends on spills, accidents and cleanup projects at plants and on roads, railways and waterways. These events, and the regulations that drive cleanups, are outside the company's control.
- Oil prices drive the Safety-Kleen segment. Safety-Kleen, 15% of 2025 revenue, sells re-refined base oil and lubricants. Weaker demand for oil products and auto services, or swings in oil prices, can hurt its results.
- Stricter rules could raise costs or block expansion. Clean Harbors operates under extensive environmental laws, which could expand to include new climate rules. Changes could raise costs and liabilities or limit its ability to run and expand the facilities that its permits cover.
- Heavy debt and restrictive loan terms. Total debt was about $2.89 billion against $517 million of cash and investments as of September 30, 2026. Loan conditions, called covenants, can restrict how the company runs its business.
Recent events
- Quarterly results released; Investor presentation or announcement
- Major agreement signed; New debt or financial obligation; Other company announcement
- Other company announcement
- Other company announcement
- Quarterly results released
- Shareholder vote results
- Executive or board change; Investor presentation or announcement
- Other company announcement
- Quarterly results released
- Quarterly results released
For income and retirement investors
Clean Harbors does not pay a dividend. It paid none from fiscal 2021 through fiscal 2025, and its dividend yield was 0% as of October 28, 2026. Income investors would need to trim shares to raise cash from it. The company returns cash through buybacks, which means repurchasing its own shares. It spent $461 million on buybacks over those five years, including $250 million in 2025. Free cash flow (cash left after spending on equipment and facilities) was $442 million that year. The share count fell 3.1% between October 2021 and October 2026.
The stock has fallen hard in crashes. It dropped 48.7% between August 2008 and March 2009 and did not regain its peak until December 2010. In the 2020 COVID crash it fell 64.5% in less than a month, then recovered by February 2021. The 2022 slide was milder: a 26.6% drop that was recovered within about two months. Single stocks carry more risk than diversified funds, since one company's problems are not offset by others.
Questions investors ask
How does Clean Harbors make money?
Clean Harbors earns most of its money from fees for collecting, transporting, treating, recycling and disposing of hazardous and other industrial waste. That Environmental Services work also covers emergency spill response, industrial maintenance and PFAS cleanup. It brought in $5.15 billion, or 85% of the $6.03 billion in revenue for the year ended December 31, 2025. The other 15% came from Safety-Kleen Sustainability Solutions, which collects used motor oil and re-refines it into base oil and lubricants for resale.
Does Clean Harbors pay a dividend?
No. Clean Harbors paid no dividends from fiscal 2021 through fiscal 2025, and its dividend yield was 0% as of October 28, 2026. Instead, it returns cash by repurchasing its own shares. It spent $461 million on repurchases over those five years, including $250 million in 2025. Repurchases shrink the share count, so each remaining share holds a larger slice of profits. They do not pay shareholders regular cash the way a dividend does.
How has Clean Harbors stock performed over the long term?
The shares have delivered high long-term returns, with deep drops along the way. As of October 28, 2026, the price had risen an average of 22.8% a year over five years and 20.9% a year over ten years. It gained 27.2% over the year to that date. It was up 33.6% for 2026 through that date, after a gain of just 1.89% in 2025. During the 2020 COVID crash, it fell 64.5%. Past returns do not guarantee future results.
Is Clean Harbors stock expensive?
It is priced for continued growth. As of October 28, 2026, the shares traded at about 43 times fiscal 2025 earnings of $7.28 per diluted share, for a market value of about $16.5 billion. That price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio means investors were paying about $43 for each $1 of 2025 profit. Profits have since picked up. In the quarter ended September 30, 2026, net income was 75.2% higher than a year earlier, and revenue was up 20.7%.
How much debt does Clean Harbors have?
Clean Harbors had about $2.89 billion of total debt and $517 million of cash and investments as of September 30, 2026, which left net debt of roughly $2.37 billion. Shareholders' equity was $3.12 billion. Its debt agreements include covenants, or conditions, that can limit how it operates. On October 5, 2026, the company reported that it had signed a major agreement and taken on a new debt or financial obligation, so the totals may have changed after September 30.