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Clean Harbors

CLH
56
Waste Management · Industrials
Winston Score
56
Winston is curious
A decent business — some strong pillars, some weaker.
Data as of Aug 23, 2026 · filings through Jun 30, 2026
How the score breaks down
Quality
Good
Growth
Good
Cash Flow
Strong
Stability
Good
Valuation
Good

Winston Score History

The full picture

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.

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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

+11.9% YoY

YoY Growth Rate

Steady revenue growth

EPS Growth

+35.9% YoY

YoY Growth Rate

EPS growth accelerating

Insider Activity

5.2%ownership

Flat

Insider ownership roughly steady over the past year

Cash Runway

~10 months

$517M cash & investments

Quarterly Free Cash Flow

↓ Burn rate worsening

Short runway — potential dilution ahead through share issuance

Cash watch

Clean Harbors has less than a year of cash at its current burn rate. Growth investors should watch for potential share dilution from future fundraising — that directly reduces your ownership.

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

Profit per sale
Gross Margin
27.9%
Modest — 27.9% gross margin
Profit after running costs
Operating Margin
15.5%
Healthy — 15.5% operating margin
Return on the money invested
ROCE
13.0%
Good — 13.0% return on capital

ROIC between 5% and 15%. They earn 5 to 15 cents back per year on every dollar invested.

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Growth

Sales growth
Sales YoY
+5.1%
Slow sales growth (+5.1% YoY)
Profit growth
EPS YoY
+15.5%
Earnings growing fast (+15.5% YoY)

Healthy double-digit earnings growth — what compounders look like.

How steady the profit is
EPS Consistency
5/8 quarters
Mixed — about half the quarters showed growth

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Cash Flow

Profit that turns into cash
Cash Conversion
145%
Turns 145% of profit into real cash
Spare cash per sale
FCF Margin
3.1%
Thin free cash flow (3.1%)

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

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Stability

What it owes vs what it owns
Debt / Equity
0.95
Moderate — manageable debt (0.95)
Covers its interest
Interest Cover
4.30x
Adequate interest coverage (4.3x)

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

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Valuation

Price vs profit
P/E Ratio (TTM)
38.2x
no trend
Pricey — P/E 38.2

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

Cheaper or dearer next year
P/E vs Forward
+10.4
GROWING
Earnings expected to grow meaningfully — cheaper on forward P/E (38.2 → 27.8)

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Dividends

Not applicable for this business.
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