WM vs CLH Stock Comparison: AI Score, Valuation, Performance and Upside
Waste Management and Clean Harbors both operate in environmental services, but Waste Management concentrates on large-scale, recurring solid waste collection and landfill disposal for residential and commercial customers, while Clean Harbors specializes in hazardous waste treatment and industrial environmental services for industrial customers.
Waste Management offers highly recurring, non-discretionary solid waste revenue with extensive landfill infrastructure, while Clean Harbors offers specialized hazardous waste and industrial services exposure with more project-based revenue variability. Consider whether you prefer Waste Management's recurring-revenue stability or Clean Harbors's specialized industrial niche exposure.
WM holds the edge across 3 of 5 key metrics in this comparison. CLH has delivered stronger 1-year price return (+40.64% vs +18.99%), though WM has the better forward P/E setup (24.09x vs 31.72x for CLH). On fundamentals, CLH is growing revenue faster (11.90%), while WM maintains the higher operating margin (18.99%) — a classic growth-versus-profitability split. Analyst consensus implies meaningfully more upside for WM (+18.33%) than for CLH (+14.17%).
Human Wall Street analysts' price targets, typically implying a ~12-month view — a separate signal from this site's own AI Prediction Signal further down the page, which is a 5-/30-day machine-learning forecast based on price history alone.
- Want exposure to highly recurring, non-discretionary solid waste collection and disposal revenue
- Value Waste Management's extensive vertically integrated landfill and collection network
- Believe growing landfill gas-to-energy and recycling investments will provide additional revenue growth
- Prefer a defensive business model resilient across economic cycles
- Want specialized exposure to hazardous waste treatment and industrial environmental services
- Believe ongoing industrial environmental compliance needs will continue supporting demand
- Value the differentiated, higher-barrier niche created by Clean Harbors's specialized capabilities
- Are comfortable with more variable, project-based industrial services revenue
| Metric | WM | CLH |
|---|---|---|
| AI scorei | 53.7 | 58.0 |
| AI ranki | #326 | #177 |
| Latest closei | $237.71 | $296.07 |
| 1M returni | +16.27% | -7.05% |
| 3M returni | +4.98% | -4.79% |
| 6M returni | +4.33% | -4.63% |
| 1Y returni | +18.99% | +40.64% |
How much would $10,000 be worth today if invested at the start of each period, with all dividends reinvested?
| Period | WM | CLH |
|---|---|---|
| 1Y ago | $12.08K (+20.8%) started 2025-11-03 | $14.19K (+41.9%) started 2025-11-03 |
| 5Y ago | $16.64K (+66.4%) started 2021-11-03 | $27.61K (+176.1%) started 2021-11-03 |
| 10Y ago | $51.68K (+416.8%) started 2016-11-03 | $67.27K (+572.7%) started 2016-11-03 |
Hypothetical — past performance does not guarantee future results.
| Metric | WM | CLH |
|---|---|---|
| Market capi | $87.8B | $16.64B |
| Trailing P/Ei | 31.07 | 38.17 |
| Forward P/Ei | 24.09 | 31.72 |
| Price/Salesi | 4.15 | N/A |
| EV/Revenuei | 4.31 | 3.10 |
| Analyst targeti | $259.92 | $359.93 |
| Target upsidei | +18.33% | +14.17% |
| Metric | WM | CLH |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue growthi | 4.00% | 11.90% |
| Earnings growthi | 8.30% | 36.40% |
| EPS growthi | +8.30% | +36.40% |
| FCF margini | +9.15% | +6.15% |
| Operating margini | 18.99% | 15.50% |
| Profit margini | 11.12% | 7.03% |
| ROIC proxyi | 29.84% | 15.56% |
| Return on equityi | 29.84% | 15.56% |
| Dividend yieldi | 1.72% | N/A |
| Payout ratioi | 48.03% | 0.00% |
| Dividend growth streaki | No increase yet | N/A |
| Betai | 0.44 | 0.86 |
| Debt/equityi | 235.30 | 110.95 |
| Current ratioi | 0.91 | 2.13 |
| Quick ratioi | 0.80 | 1.71 |
Over the past year, WM and CLH have moved weakly in the same direction (correlation of 0.23), based on daily returns.
Lower drawdown and smaller single-period drops generally indicate a smoother ride, though they do not guarantee lower future risk.
| Period | Metric | WM | CLH |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1Y | Growthi | +20.81% | +41.86% |
| CAGRi | +20.88% | +42.02% | |
| Volatilityi | 21.30% | 25.02% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.79 | 1.36 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 1.20 | 2.07 | |
| Max drawdowni | 18.10% | 12.02% | |
| Current drawdowni | 3.57% | 9.28% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 6.36% | 2.92% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 8.08% | 4.01% | |
| Max daily dropi | 4.52% | 8.20% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 6.03% | 9.69% | |
| 5Y | Growthi | +57.26% | +176.06% |
| CAGRi | +9.48% | +22.53% | |
| Volatilityi | 19.37% | 28.35% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.34 | 0.70 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 0.48 | 1.02 | |
| Max drawdowni | 18.72% | 30.86% | |
| Current drawdowni | 3.57% | 9.28% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 6.13% | 7.03% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 7.50% | 9.67% | |
| Max daily dropi | 8.03% | 11.48% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 11.60% | 15.19% | |
| 10Y | Growthi | +337.51% | +572.73% |
| CAGRi | +15.91% | +21.01% | |
| Volatilityi | 19.92% | 34.77% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.62 | 0.60 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 0.88 | 0.85 | |
| Max drawdowni | 30.07% | 64.51% | |
| Current drawdowni | 3.57% | 9.28% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 5.15% | 9.58% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 7.18% | 13.80% | |
| Max daily dropi | 11.12% | 33.52% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 16.97% | 42.28% |
| Category | WM | CLH |
|---|---|---|
| Company | Waste Management, Inc. | Clean Harbors, Inc. |
| Sector | Industrials | Industrials |
| Industry | Waste Management | Waste Management |
| Core business | A leading provider of solid waste collection, transfer, recycling, and disposal services across North America, operating an extensive network of landfills, transfer stations, and collection vehicles. | A provider of environmental and industrial services including hazardous waste collection, treatment, and disposal, along with industrial cleaning and used oil re-refining services for industrial and government customers. |
| Investor focus | Pricing power on collection and disposal services, landfill capacity and gas-to-energy project expansion, and recycling commodity price sensitivity. | Hazardous waste disposal capacity utilization, industrial services demand tied to refinery and chemical plant activity, and used oil re-refining margins. |
- Extensive vertically integrated network of landfills, transfer stations, and collection assets creates high barriers to entry
- Essential, non-discretionary nature of waste collection services supports stable, recurring revenue across economic cycles
- Growing landfill gas-to-energy and recycling investments provide additional revenue streams beyond core collection
- Specialized hazardous waste treatment and disposal capabilities create a differentiated, higher-barrier niche versus general waste services
- Industrial services business benefits from ongoing environmental compliance and remediation needs at industrial facilities
- Used oil re-refining operations provide an additional revenue stream with commodity-linked upside
- Recycling segment profitability can be sensitive to fluctuations in commodity prices for recovered materials
- Landfill capacity is a finite, regulated resource requiring ongoing permitting and environmental compliance investment
- Large capital expenditure requirements for fleet and facility maintenance require disciplined capital allocation
- Industrial services and event-driven project revenue can be less predictable than recurring residential and commercial waste collection
- Used oil re-refining margins are sensitive to base oil and crude oil price movements
- Hazardous waste volumes can fluctuate with industrial production activity and regulatory enforcement cycles
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