Clean Harbors (CLH): Revisiting Valuation After a 10% Monthly Share Price Gain

Clean Harbors (CLH) has quietly outperformed many industrial names this month, with the stock up about 10% while remaining nearly flat over the past 3 months, drawing fresh attention to its environmental services franchise.

See our latest analysis for Clean Harbors.

At around $239 per share, Clean Harbors has seen a solid 10.1% 30 day share price return. Its 3 year total shareholder return of about 108% shows momentum has been building rather than fading.

If Clean Harbors solid run has you thinking about what else might be gaining traction, it could be a good time to explore fast growing stocks with high insider ownership.

With shares trading just below analyst targets yet still at a roughly 25% discount to estimated intrinsic value, investors face a key question: is Clean Harbors still undervalued or is the market already pricing in its future growth?

Most Popular Narrative Narrative: 4.4% Undervalued

Clean Harbors last closed at $239, slightly below the most popular narrative fair value of about $250, setting up a modest valuation gap for investors to unpack.

The analysts have a consensus price target of $266.556 for Clean Harbors based on their expectations of its future earnings growth, profit margins and other risk factors. However, there is a degree of disagreement amongst analysts, with the most bullish reporting a price target of $305.0, and the most bearish reporting a price target of just $240.0.

Read the complete narrative.

Want to see what keeps this story bullish despite trimmed growth assumptions and a richer future earnings multiple than the sector? The narrative leans heavily on steadily rising margins, disciplined buybacks, and a step change in long term earnings power. Curious which cash flow and profitability paths have to play out to make that fair value stick?

Result: Fair Value of $250.12 (UNDERVALUED)

Have a read of the narrative in full and understand what's behind the forecasts.

However, faster adoption of zero waste manufacturing and tougher permitting for new incineration capacity could cap volumes and squeeze Clean Harbors long term margin expansion.

Find out about the key risks to this Clean Harbors narrative.

Another Way to Look at Value

On ratios, the picture is less comfortable. Clean Harbors trades at about 32.9 times earnings versus a fair ratio of 26.1 times and an industry average near 22.9 times. This suggests investors are already paying up for growth. Is that premium a potential reward in waiting or a source of downside risk?

See what the numbers say about this price — find out in our valuation breakdown.

Build Your Own Clean Harbors Narrative

If you see the story differently or want to test your own assumptions against the numbers, you can build a custom view in just a few minutes: Do it your way.

A great starting point for your Clean Harbors research is our analysis highlighting 2 key rewards and 1 important warning sign that could impact your investment decision.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

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