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Reasons to Hold Clean Harbors (CLH) in Your Portfolio Now

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Clean Harbors (CLH - Free Report) stock has gained 43.4%, outperforming 29.5% and 28.3% growth of the industry it belongs to and the Zacks S&P 500 Composite in the past year, respectively.

CLH has an impressive Growth Score of A. This style score condenses all the essential metrics from the company’s financial statements to get a true sense of the quality and sustainability of its growth.

CLH’s earnings for 2024 and 2025 are anticipated to grow 5.2% and 15.6% year over year, respectively. Revenues are expected to rise 5.2% year over year in 2024 and 5% in 2025.

Factors That Auger Well

Clean Harbors’ expansion is led by acquisitions, including the 2024acquisition of HEPACO that allows CLH to access additional markets and new customers. Also, it improves the capabilities around railway and transportation responses. The acquisition of Thompson Industrial Services in 2023 for $110.9 million expanded the Environmental Services segment’s industrial service operations in the Southeastern United States. The company acquired two privately owned businesses for $91.3 million in 2022. These acquisitions strengthened the waste oil connection and re-refining operations of the Safety-Kleen Sustainability Solutions segment.

Clean Harbors, Inc. Revenue (TTM)

 

Clean Harbors, Inc. Revenue (TTM)

Clean Harbors, Inc. revenue-ttm | Clean Harbors, Inc. Quote

CLH improves its quality, and complies with government and local regulations while making  capital investments. The company has planned a second sizable capital project relating to the Baltimore site in 2024. It has purchased a huge parcel of land adjacent to the existing plant and intends to invest and upgrade that property, thereby adding more recycling capabilities and creating a production line for containerized manufacturing services.

Clean Harbors’ consistent record of returning value to shareholders in the form of share repurchases is impressive. In 2023, 2022 and 2021, the company repurchased shares worth $51.2 million, $50.2 million and $54.4 million, respectively. This strategy not only instills investor confidence but also positively impacts the bottom line.

Risks

Clean Harbors’ selling, general and administrative expenses increased 7% year over year in 2023 and 19.3% in 2022. We expect these expenses to rise 13.1%, 6% and 7.8% year over year in 2024, 2025 and 2026, respectively.

The company’s current ratio at the end of fourth-quarter 2023 was pegged at 1.98, lower than the preceding quarter's 2 and the year-ago quarter's 1.99.

Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider

Clean Harbors currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

A couple of better-ranked stocks from the broader Zacks Business Services sector are HNI (HNI - Free Report) and Barrett Business Services (BBSI - Free Report) .

HNI currently sports a Zacks Rank of 1 (Strong Buy). HNI has a long-term earnings growth expectation of 12%. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

HNI delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 54.8%, on average.

Barrett Business Services currently carries a Zacks Rank of 2 (Buy). BBSI has a long-term earnings growth expectation of 14%.

BBSI delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 77.7%, on average.

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