CLH vs CWST vs SHC Stock Comparison

Clean Harbors, Casella Waste Systems and Sotera Health Prices as of Oct 27, 2026 Peers: Industry group
CLH Clean Harbors Inc
$313.03 0.0% 1M +29.2% 1Y
Market cap
$16.53B
P/E
37.6x
Revenue (TTM)
$6.24B
Div. yield
–
Hazardous Waste Industrials
7 wins
SHC Sotera Health Co
$18.49 +0.8% 1M +10.7% 1Y
Market cap
$5.28B
P/E
32.3x
Revenue (TTM)
$1.22B
Div. yield
–
Diagnostic Labs Healthcare
3 wins

Head to Head

11 decided of 12

Clean Harbors leads on 7 of the 12 questions below (Clean Harbors 7, Sotera Health 3, Casella Waste Systems 1). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionCLHCWSTSHCLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $16.53B $5.87B $5.28B CLH
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 37.6x 1,045x 32.3x SHC
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 30.4x 72.6x 20.1x SHC
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +5.1% +13.6% +8.1% CWST
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months 7.0% 0.3% 13.4% SHC
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital 9.7% 1.5% 9.1% CLH
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA 1.9x 3.4x 3.3x CLH
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield — — — –
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months +29.2% +5.5% +10.7% CLH
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years +22.8%/yr +2.4%/yr -5.8%/yr CLH
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 27.9% 37.0% 28.4% CLH
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 66/100 47/100 59/100 CLH

Percentile Scorecard

CLHCWSTSHC

Each axis is the mean percentile of its metrics against the company's industry group. 100 is the best in the group, 50 the middle.

Scores by Axis

AxisCLHCWSTSHC
Valuation 53 #8 of 16 40 #10 of 16 52 #45 of 92
Growth 54 #7 of 14 39 #9 of 14 66 #30 of 87
Profitability 85 #3 of 14 62 #6 of 14 82 #16 of 86
Financial Health 73 #5 of 16 47 #9 of 16 37 #62 of 97
Shareholder Returns – – –
Overall 66 47 59
  • CLH ranked among 16 companies in Waste Management
  • CWST ranked among 16 companies in Waste Management
  • SHC ranked among 102 companies in Healthcare Providers

Price Performance

Price return, split-adjusted, before dividends. Click a name to hide or show it.

Returns

PeriodCLHCWSTSHCSPY
1 month 0.0%+13.9%+0.8% -0.2%
3 months +3.0%+2.9%+4.1% +3.9%
6 months +2.2%+20.5%+19.0% +8.2%
Year to date +33.5%-4.3%+4.8% +12.9%
1 year +29.2%+5.5%+10.7% +12.3%
3 years +107.3%+27.5%+47.8% +87.4%
3 years, per year +27.5%+8.4%+13.9% +23.3%
5 years +178.6%+12.7%-25.6% +67.9%
5 years, per year +22.8%+2.4%-5.8% +10.9%
10 years +582.7%+755.8%— +261.1%
10 years, per year +21.2%+24.0%— +13.7%

Risk

MeasureCLHCWSTSHCSPY
Volatility, 1Y 27.9%37.0%28.4% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 31.0%34.0%27.0% 12.7%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 0.260.091.01 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y 1.050.150.38 0.97
Max drawdown, 5Y -30.9%-37.7%-78.2% -25.4%
From 52-week high -4.3%-12.7%-5.5% -1.2%
52-week high $327.10$107.34$19.57 $779.14
52-week low $201.73$74.97$13.13 $631.97

Valuation History

Weekly multiples on trailing twelve-month fundamentals. Negative or extreme readings (a loss year, a collapsed denominator) are left out so the chart stays readable.

MultipleCLHCWSTSHC
P/E now vs peer median 37.6xmedian 33.2x 1,045xmedian 33.2x 32.3xmedian 24.6x
P/S now vs peer median 2.6xmedian 3.3x 3.0xmedian 3.3x 4.3xmedian 1.6x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median 15.6xmedian 14.5x 18.3xmedian 14.5x 13.0xmedian 14.6x
P/FCF now vs peer median 35.8xmedian 16.4x 55.6xmedian 16.4x 46.8xmedian 21.6x
P/B now vs peer median 5.6xmedian 3.0x 3.7xmedian 3.0x 7.9xmedian 3.2x
PEG now vs peer median 10.58median 2.81 -20.53median 2.81 0.86median 0.66

Financial History

Reported figures by fiscal period, placed on the calendar year (or quarter) each period ended in, so companies with different fiscal years line up.

Trailing twelve monthsCLHCWSTSHC
Revenue $6.24B $1.96B $1.22B
Gross profit $2.01B $653.52M $668.51M
Operating income $739.29M $66.07M $411.34M
Net income $439.05M $5.70M $163.48M
Free cash flow $461.72M $105.67M $112.70M
EPS (diluted) $8.29 $0.09 $0.57
Cash & equivalents $408.36M $25.54M $356.72M
Total debt $2.77B $1.36B $2.14B
Shares (diluted) 52.96M 63.69M 288.15M
Enterprise value $13.54B $4.99B $3.96B

All Metrics

58 metrics · best in bold

Bold marks the best reading: the lowest positive value for multiples, leverage and payout, the highest for everything else. The bar under each value is its percentile against that company's own peers. Hover a value for its rank and the peer median.

Valuation

12 metrics
MetricCLHCWSTSHC
P/E 37.6x 1,045x 32.3x
P/FCF 35.8x 55.6x 46.8x
P/Operating cash flow 18.3x 16.7x 18.1x
P/S 2.6x 3.0x 4.3x
P/B 5.6x 3.7x 7.9x
P/Tangible book 7.6x 4.7x 13.3x
EV/EBITDA 15.6x 18.3x 13.0x
EV/EBIT 25.4x 109.1x 17.2x
EV/Revenue 3.0x 3.7x 5.8x
EV/FCF 40.7x 68.2x 62.6x
EV/Operating cash flow 20.8x 20.5x 24.2x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) 10.58 -20.53 0.86

Growth

14 metrics
MetricCLHCWSTSHC
Revenue growth (1Y) 5.1% 13.6% 8.1%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 5.3% 20.4% 7.6%
Gross profit growth (1Y) 10.2% 12.6% 7.1%
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) 6.5% 20.0% 8.1%
Operating income growth (1Y) 13.5% 1.1% 21.8%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) 4.5% -8.5% 23.2%
Net income growth (1Y) 14.1% -48.4% 580.5%
Net income CAGR (3Y) 2.6% -47.8% 37.7%
EPS growth (1Y) 15.9% -48.5% 574.9%
EPS CAGR (3Y) 3.6% -50.9% 37.5%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) 19.9% 2.9% 9.8%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) 7.3% 19.0% 61.3%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) 20.0% 16.1% 0.0%
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) 12.0% 8.9% 32.6%

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricCLHCWSTSHC
Gross margin 32.3% 33.4% 55.0%
EBITDA margin 19.2% 20.1% 44.6%
Operating margin 11.8% 3.4% 33.8%
Pretax margin 9.6% 0.5% 21.7%
Net margin 7.0% 0.3% 13.4%
FCF margin 7.4% 5.4% 9.3%
Operating cash flow margin 14.5% 18.0% 24.0%
Return on equity 15.4% 0.4% 25.4%
Return on assets 5.7% 0.2% 5.0%
Return on invested capital 9.7% 1.5% 9.1%
Return on capital employed 11.3% 2.1% 13.5%
Asset turnover 0.8x 0.6x 0.4x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) 2.1x 61.6x 1.8x
Stock comp / revenue 0.7% 0.7% 3.1%

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricCLHCWSTSHC
Debt / assets 35.4% 38.3% 64.7%
Debt / equity 0.9x 0.9x 3.2x
Net debt / EBITDA 1.9x 3.4x 3.3x
Debt / FCF 6.0x 12.9x 19.0x
Liabilities / assets 62.6% 55.6% 79.9%
Equity / assets 37.4% 44.4% 20.1%
Interest coverage – 1.0x –
Current ratio 2.1x 1.0x 2.8x
Quick ratio 1.7x 0.8x 2.4x
Cash ratio 0.4x 0.1x 1.5x
Altman Z-score 3.86 2.34 1.94

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricCLHCWSTSHC
Dividend yield – – –
Net buyback yield 1.4% – –
Shareholder yield 1.4% – –
Payout ratio (earnings) – – –
Payout ratio (FCF) – – –
Dividend growth (1Y) – – –
Dividend CAGR (3Y) – – –

Analyst Estimates

Solid lines are reported fiscal-year results; dashed lines are the consensus for the years ahead. Hover a year for the analysts' high and low, and how each result compared with its estimate.

ConsensusCLHCWSTSHC
Forward P/E 30.4xFY2026 72.6xFY2026 20.1xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year $10.29FY2026 $1.29FY2026 $0.92FY2026
EPS growth, next FY +41.3%FY2026 +1.6%FY2026 +7.0%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after +5.3% +16.3% +21.7%
Revenue, next fiscal year $6.28BFY2026 $2.05BFY2026 $1.33BFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY +4.1%FY2026 +11.6%FY2026 +14.8%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after +15.7% +7.1% -4.2%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersCLHCWSTSHC
Held by institutions 93.5% 100.0% 100.0%
Institutions holding 658 415 316
Change in shares held, QoQ 0.0% +4.2% +5.9%
Institutions buying 306 231 220
Institutions selling 246 127 64
Buyers to sellers 1.24 1.82 3.44

Return Correlation

Daily returns, last 12 months

1.00 means two stocks move in lockstep, 0 that they move independently. Pairs below about 0.5 diversify each other.

CLHCWSTSHC
CLH 1.00 0.32 0.15
CWST 0.32 1.00 0.24
SHC 0.15 0.24 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, CLH, CWST and SHC?

Clean Harbors (CLH) is the largest by market capitalisation: Clean Harbors (CLH) $16.53B, Casella Waste Systems (CWST) $5.87B, Sotera Health (SHC) $5.28B.

Which stock is cheaper, CLH, CWST and SHC?

Sotera Health (SHC) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Clean Harbors (CLH) 37.6x, Casella Waste Systems (CWST) 1,045x, Sotera Health (SHC) 32.3x). On next year's consensus earnings, Sotera Health (SHC) is cheapest (Clean Harbors (CLH) 30.4x, Casella Waste Systems (CWST) 72.6x, Sotera Health (SHC) 20.1x). A lower multiple can reflect slower expected growth, so read it next to the growth figures.

Which company is growing faster?

Casella Waste Systems (CWST) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: Clean Harbors (CLH) +5.1%, Casella Waste Systems (CWST) +13.6%, Sotera Health (SHC) +8.1%.

Which company is more profitable?

Sotera Health (SHC) has the highest net margin (Clean Harbors (CLH) 7.0%, Casella Waste Systems (CWST) 0.3%, Sotera Health (SHC) 13.4%). On return on invested capital, Clean Harbors (CLH) leads (Clean Harbors (CLH) 9.7%, Casella Waste Systems (CWST) 1.5%, Sotera Health (SHC) 9.1%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Clean Harbors (CLH) returned the most: Clean Harbors (CLH) +29.2%, Casella Waste Systems (CWST) +5.5%, Sotera Health (SHC) +10.7%. Over five years, Clean Harbors (CLH) compounded fastest (Clean Harbors (CLH) +22.8%/yr, Casella Waste Systems (CWST) +2.4%/yr, Sotera Health (SHC) -5.8%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Clean Harbors (CLH) has been the steadiest (Clean Harbors (CLH) 27.9%, Casella Waste Systems (CWST) 37.0%, Sotera Health (SHC) 28.4%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Which is the better stock, CLH, CWST and SHC?

There is no single answer; it depends on what you are buying for. On the 12 head-to-head measures on this page, Clean Harbors (CLH) leads on 7. Business Quant does not give investment advice; use the comparison as a starting point for your own research.

Data from SEC filings, exchange prices and consensus estimates, via Business Quant. Percentile scores compare each company with its own peer group, so two companies' scores are each relative to different peers unless you rank against the whole market. Price returns exclude dividends. Nothing on this page is investment advice.