Clean Harbors (NYSE:CLH) Issues Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.67 EPS

Clean Harbors (NYSE:CLH) released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The business services provider reported $3.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.26 by $0.67, Zacks reports. The business had revenue of $1.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.73 billion. Clean Harbors had a return on equity of 18.27% and a net margin of 8.05%. Clean Harbors’s revenue was up 20.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.21 earnings per share.

Here are the key takeaways from Clean Harbors’ conference call:

• Record Q3 performance: Revenue rose 21% to $1.87 billion, adjusted EBITDA increased 42% to $456 million, and the consolidated margin reached a company-record 24.4%.
• Clean Harbors raised 2026 adjusted EBITDA guidance to $1.44 billion–$1.48 billion and free cash flow guidance to $600 million–$660 million, supported by strong execution, collection volumes, PFAS demand, and acquisitions.
• Environmental Services benefited from a 70%-plus increase in field-services revenue, including a roughly $120 million emergency-response project, while reshoring, customer consolidation, PFAS, and data-center opportunities strengthened the longer-term pipeline.
• Safety-Kleen Sustainability Solutions delivered record adjusted EBITDA of $126 million as tight base-oil supply and spread management boosted results, but management cautioned that the commodity-driven market could normalize and remains difficult to forecast for 2027.
• Co-CEO Mike Battles will retire from his executive and board roles at year-end, with Eric Gerstenberg becoming sole CEO on January 1; management characterized the transition as planned and board-supported.

Clean Harbors Stock Performance

Clean Harbors stock traded down $4.67 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $304.67. 237,048 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 489,716. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.80. The business has a 50 day moving average of $316.33 and a two-hundred day moving average of $297.48. Clean Harbors has a 12 month low of $201.34 and a 12 month high of $335.94.

Insider Activity

In other Clean Harbors news, CEO Eric Gerstenberg sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $321.34, for a total transaction of $803,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 56,793 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,249,862.62. This represents a 4.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Andrea Robertson sold 789 shares of Clean Harbors stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $314.01, for a total transaction of $247,753.89. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 8,979 shares in the company, valued at $2,819,495.79. This represents a 8.08% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 5.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on CLH shares. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Clean Harbors from $376.00 to $378.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 15th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Clean Harbors from $390.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Clean Harbors from $361.00 to $362.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Weiss Ratings raised Clean Harbors from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Truist Financial set a $365.00 target price on Clean Harbors in a research note on Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $365.21.

Clean Harbors Company Profile

Clean Harbors, Inc provides environmental, energy and industrial services to customers across North America. The company serves a broad range of industries, including manufacturing, government, utilities, energy and transportation, helping customers manage hazardous and non-hazardous materials, maintain industrial facilities and respond to environmental emergencies.

Its services include hazardous waste collection, transportation, treatment and disposal; incineration; recycling and waste-to-fuel programs; wastewater treatment; and used-oil collection and re-refining.