Checking the ticker for Clean Harbors (CLH) on a Friday afternoon can be a bit of a trip. As of January 16, 2026, the Clean Harbors share price closed at $263.95. It’s down a smidge—about 1.14%—from the previous day, but if you look at the 52-week range, you’re seeing a company that has been banging against its ceiling near $268.
People see a waste management company and think "boring." They think of garbage trucks and landfills. Honestly, that's the first mistake. Clean Harbors isn't picking up your neighbor’s grass clippings; they are the ones handling the scary stuff—chemical spills, hazardous industrial waste, and the "forever chemicals" (PFAS) that everyone is suddenly terrified of.
That specific niche is why the stock has been a monster.
Why the Clean Harbors Share Price is Defying Gravity
The market for hazardous waste is basically a moat made of red tape. You can't just start a hazardous waste company in your garage. You need permits that take decades to get and facilities that cost hundreds of millions to build.
Look at their new Kimball incinerator. It’s a massive project that finally went live in 2025, and it’s already a major reason why the Clean Harbors share price has stayed north of $250. When you own one of the few places in North America where you can legally burn toxic chemicals, you have a lot of "pricing power." That’s just a fancy way of saying they can charge more because their customers have nowhere else to go.
The PFAS Gold Rush
You've probably heard about PFAS. These "forever chemicals" are in everything from non-stick pans to firefighting foam. The EPA is cracking down hard. For Clean Harbors, this is a literal gold mine. They expect PFAS-related revenue to hit between $100 million and $120 million in 2026 alone.
That is a 20% to 25% jump year-over-year.
Investors love recurring revenue. When a company is mandated by the government to clean up a mess, and Clean Harbors is the only one with the tech to do it, the stock price usually reflects that reality.
Breaking Down the Numbers (The Real Ones)
- Market Cap: Around $14.1 billion.
- P/E Ratio: Sitting at about 36.6. It’s not cheap. You’re paying a premium for that "moat" we talked about.
- Revenue Growth: They pulled in $1.55 billion in Q3 2025. That’s steady, but it was actually a slight "miss" compared to what some analysts wanted.
- Free Cash Flow: This is the big one. They are targeting $445 million to $495 million for the full year 2025.
The Oil Factor: Safety-Kleen’s Secret Sauce
There is a side of the business called Safety-Kleen Sustainability Solutions (SKSS). It’s basically the world's largest re-refiner of used oil. They take the dirty oil from your car's oil change, clean it up, and sell it back as high-quality base oil.
This part of the business is a bit of a roller coaster.
When oil prices are high, SKSS prints money. When they drop, it hurts. Recently, pricing headwinds in the base oil market actually caused this segment to lag. It’s the "fly in the ointment" for the Clean Harbors share price.
To fix this, they’re dropping over $210 million on a new "SDA" processing plant. They want to turn low-value byproducts into high-value 600N base oil. It won't be ready until 2028, but the market is already pricing in that future $30 million to $40 million in annual EBITDA.
What the Analysts Aren't Telling You
If you look at Wall Street, the consensus is a "Moderate Buy." Citigroup just bumped their target to $274. Raymond James is even more bullish, sitting at $270.
But here’s the rub: some insiders have been selling.
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In late 2025, we saw millions of dollars worth of stock sold by the Co-CEO and even the founder. Now, insiders sell for lots of reasons—buying a boat, paying for a wedding, diversifying—but when the stock is at an all-time high and the big bosses are trimming their stakes, it’s worth a raised eyebrow.
Also, the "industrial" side of their business has been a bit soft. Chemical and refining customers have been holding back on maintenance spending because of economic uncertainty. If the broader economy takes a nose-dive, Clean Harbors isn't totally immune, even if people still produce trash.
Actionable Insights for Investors
If you're looking at the Clean Harbors share price and wondering if you missed the boat, you need to weigh two things.
First, the "Green" transition is actually a "Toxic" transition. All those batteries and new manufacturing plants produce waste that Clean Harbors handles. They are a "picks and shovels" play for the environmental movement.
Second, the valuation is high. At a 36 P/E, there isn't a lot of room for error.
Next Steps for Your Portfolio:
- Watch the Q4 Earnings: Mark February 18, 2026, on your calendar. That’s the next big data drop. If they beat the $1.59 EPS estimate, expect the stock to test $280.
- Monitor the SDA Plant Progress: Keep an eye on updates regarding their $210M investment. Any delays there will sour the long-term outlook for the SKSS segment.
- Check the PFAS Regulation Pipeline: If the EPA delays enforcement of new standards, the "PFAS tailwind" might stall, giving you a better entry point at a lower price.
- Don't Ignore the Buybacks: They’ve already spent over $150 million buying back their own shares recently. That shows management thinks the stock is still a good deal, even at these levels.
Clean Harbors is sort of the ultimate "defensive growth" stock. It’s a messy business, but someone has to do it, and they do it better than almost anyone else in North America. Just don't expect it to be a smooth ride if the oil market decides to take a nosedive.