Clean Harbors, Inc. (CLH) Stock Price & How to Invest
Last updated July 2026
Short answer
Clean Harbors (NYSE: CLH) is North America's largest hazardous-waste and industrial-environmental services company, a way to own the physical infrastructure (incinerators, landfills, oil re-refining) that regulated waste has to pass through. It trades as a premium-multiple, steadily compounding industrial rather than a cheap value play.
CLH stock price
As of 2026-07-20, Clean Harbors, Inc. (CLH) last closed at $310.22, up 37.4% over the past year. Over the past 52 weeks it has traded between $201.73 and $313.70.
Prices are daily closing prices from Yahoo Finance and may be delayed. For the live quote, check your broker or Clean Harbors, Inc.'s investor relations page. Walnut is informational, not investment advice.
What does Clean Harbors, Inc. (CLH) do?
Clean Harbors operates two segments. Environmental Services (the large majority of revenue and profit) runs hazardous-waste incinerators, landfills, treatment facilities, field and emergency-response services, and the Safety-Kleen branded parts-washer and used-oil collection network. The second segment, Safety-Kleen Sustainability Solutions (SKSS), is North America's largest re-refiner and recycler of used motor oil, turning waste oil into base and blended lubricants. The company's moat comes from owning scarce, hard-to-permit assets: RCRA-permitted high-temperature incinerators and disposal sites that competitors cannot easily replicate, which gives Clean Harbors durable pricing power on the disposal side.
The investment picture is one of a high-quality industrial compounder trading at a premium valuation. Full-year 2025 revenue reached a record ~$6.03 billion with net income of ~$391 million, and the company delivered record Q1 2026 revenue while raising full-year adjusted EBITDA guidance. The bull case rests on a long runway of secular tailwinds (tightening environmental regulation, reshoring of industrial activity, and an emerging PFAS destruction market where Clean Harbors is a technology leader). The counterweight is the ~40x earnings multiple, exposure to industrial and energy cycles, and the more volatile, oil-price-sensitive SKSS segment.
What's driving Clean Harbors, Inc. (CLH)?
1. Scarce disposal infrastructure and pricing power
Clean Harbors owns a network of RCRA-permitted incinerators and hazardous-waste landfills that are extremely difficult to permit and build new. This scarcity underpins consistent annual price increases on the disposal side and structurally supports Environmental Services margins, the segment that drives most of the company's profit.
2. New incinerator capacity and utilization
The Kimball, Nebraska incinerator adds meaningful high-margin disposal capacity as it ramps toward full utilization. Incremental incineration volumes flow through at strong margins, so rising utilization is a core lever for adjusted EBITDA growth over the next several years.
3. PFAS destruction opportunity
Clean Harbors has positioned itself as a leader in destroying PFAS (so-called forever chemicals) via high-temperature incineration, with study results the company says surpass EPA standards. As federal and corporate PFAS rules tighten, this could become a multi-year revenue and margin tailwind, with management describing a rapidly growing services pipeline.
4. Recurring revenue and reshoring tailwinds
A large share of revenue is recurring, tied to ongoing industrial production, maintenance turnarounds, and regulated waste generation. Reshoring of US manufacturing and continued industrial activity expand the base of waste that must be managed, supporting the Environmental Services growth trajectory.
What are the risks to Clean Harbors, Inc. (CLH)?
The stock trades at roughly 40x trailing earnings, so it prices in continued execution and leaves little room for disappointment. The SKSS segment is sensitive to base and blended oil pricing, which pressured results in early 2026 and adds cyclicality. Environmental Services demand is tied to industrial production and energy activity, so a manufacturing or energy slowdown would reduce waste volumes and emergency-response work. The business is capital intensive and carries meaningful debt from acquisitions, and it faces ongoing regulatory, environmental-liability, and permitting risk. PFAS revenue, while promising, is still early and depends on the pace and shape of future regulation.
How is Clean Harbors, Inc. (CLH) valued? (approximate, July 2026)
A simple financial snapshot. These are approximations and refresh quarterly; for current figures see Clean Harbors, Inc.'s investor relations page or your broker.
- Revenue (FY2025): ~$6.03B
- Revenue (TTM): ~$6.06B
- Net income (FY2025): ~$391M
- Diluted EPS (FY2025): ~$7.28
- Market cap: ~$16.4B
- Trailing P/E: ~42x
- 2026 adj. EBITDA guidance: ~$1.24B to $1.30B
Clean Harbors posted record 2025 revenue of ~$6.03 billion and record Q1 2026 revenue of ~$1.46 billion, then raised full-year 2026 adjusted EBITDA guidance to roughly $1.24 to $1.30 billion and free cash flow to about $490 to $550 million. At roughly 40x trailing earnings and a mid-30s forward multiple, the stock is valued as a premium industrial compounder rather than a value name. Analyst price targets in mid-2026 clustered close to the trading price, implying the market already reflects much of the near-term growth.
Who competes with Clean Harbors, Inc. (CLH)?
Hazardous-waste and environmental services
Veolia North America and US Ecology-type operators compete on hazardous-waste treatment, disposal, and industrial services. These are the closest peers to Clean Harbors' core Environmental Services segment, though few match its combination of incineration, landfill, and field-services breadth.
Diversified waste and solid-waste haulers
Waste Management, Republic Services, and Stericycle overlap in disposal, collection, and specialty (including medical) waste. They are far larger in solid waste but compete at the edges of Clean Harbors' regulated and industrial waste offerings.
Used-oil collection and re-refining
Heritage-Crystal Clean and other used-oil and parts-washer operators compete with the Safety-Kleen and SKSS businesses in oil collection, re-refining, and industrial cleaning services, an area more exposed to lubricant and base-oil pricing.
How to invest in Clean Harbors, Inc. (CLH)
There are three common ways to get CLH exposure. Buy shares (or fractional shares) directly at any major broker. Hold an ETF that includes it, which spreads the position across many companies. Or build it into a focused thematic basket, so CLH sits alongside other stocks that express the same thesis.
Walnut takes the basket route. Describe a thesis where CLH fits (for example “AI infrastructure” or “dividend-growth large-caps”) and the AI proposes 5 to 6 constituents with target weights. You review the plan and fund it through your own broker when you're ready.
The bottom line on Clean Harbors, Inc. (CLH)
CLH is an infrastructure-heavy, regulation-protected environmental services compounder priced for continued growth, with PFAS destruction and its new incinerator as the key upside levers.
More on Clean Harbors, Inc. (CLH)
Whether CLH is worth buying today depends more on your time horizon and what you already hold than on any single call. We walk through valuation, what would have to go right, and the risks in is CLH a buy?, and where the stock could go from here in the CLH stock forecast.
For income investors, whether CLH pays a dividend and how the payout looks is covered in does CLH pay a dividend?
Build a basket around CLH with Walnut
Use Clean Harbors, Inc. as one constituent in a thematic basket Walnut's AI helps you assemble. Describe a thesis you believe in, the AI proposes the holdings and weights, and you approve before any broker order.
FAQ
What does Clean Harbors do?
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Clean Harbors is North America's largest provider of hazardous-waste and environmental services. It runs incinerators, landfills, treatment facilities, field and emergency-response services, and, through Safety-Kleen, the largest used-oil recycling and re-refining network on the continent.
What are Clean Harbors' two business segments?
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Environmental Services (ES), which includes technical services, Safety-Kleen environmental services, and field services, generates most of the revenue and profit. Safety-Kleen Sustainability Solutions (SKSS) collects and re-refines used oil into base and blended lubricants.
How big is Clean Harbors?
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The company reported record revenue of about $6.03 billion for full-year 2025 and carried a market capitalization of roughly $16.4 billion in mid-2026. It is the dominant player in North American hazardous-waste disposal.
Why does Clean Harbors trade at a high valuation?
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As of July 2026 the stock traded at roughly 40x trailing earnings. Investors assign a premium multiple because it owns scarce, hard-to-permit disposal assets with durable pricing power and has secular tailwinds from tightening environmental regulation.
What is the PFAS opportunity for Clean Harbors?
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Clean Harbors uses high-temperature incineration to destroy PFAS (forever chemicals) and says its results surpass EPA standards. As PFAS regulations tighten, this could become a multi-year revenue and margin driver, with management describing a rapidly growing pipeline.
What are the main risks to Clean Harbors?
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Key risks include the premium valuation, sensitivity of the SKSS segment to oil pricing, exposure to industrial and energy cycles, heavy capital intensity and acquisition-related debt, and ongoing regulatory, environmental-liability, and permitting risk.
Who competes with Clean Harbors?
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It competes with Veolia and US Ecology-style hazardous-waste operators, diversified haulers like Waste Management, Republic Services, and Stericycle, and used-oil and parts-washer firms such as Heritage-Crystal Clean. No single competitor matches its full suite of services.
Does Clean Harbors pay a dividend?
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Clean Harbors has historically prioritized reinvestment, acquisitions, and share repurchases over a regular dividend, so its return profile has been driven mainly by earnings growth and buybacks rather than dividend income. Check current filings for the latest capital-return policy.
Walnut is informational, not investment advice. Financial figures on this page are approximations; always verify current numbers with Clean Harbors, Inc.'s investor relations page or your broker before making investment decisions.