Clean Harbors, Inc. (NYSE:CLH) First-Quarter Results: Here's What Analysts Are Forecasting For This Year

It's been a good week for Clean Harbors, Inc. (NYSE:CLH) shareholders, because the company has just released its latest first-quarter results, and the shares gained 4.8% to US$222. Clean Harbors reported in line with analyst predictions, delivering revenues of US$1.4b and statutory earnings per share of US$1.09, suggesting the business is executing well and in line with its plan. This is an important time for investors, as they can track a company's performance in its report, look at what experts are forecasting for next year, and see if there has been any change to expectations for the business. So we collected the latest post-earnings statutory consensus estimates to see what could be in store for next year.

Taking into account the latest results, the most recent consensus for Clean Harbors from eleven analysts is for revenues of US$6.12b in 2025. If met, it would imply an okay 2.9% increase on its revenue over the past 12 months. Statutory earnings per share are predicted to increase 5.3% to US$7.69. Yet prior to the latest earnings, the analysts had been anticipated revenues of US$6.13b and earnings per share (EPS) of US$7.54 in 2025. The consensus analysts don't seem to have seen anything in these results that would have changed their view on the business, given there's been no major change to their estimates.

See our latest analysis for Clean Harbors

It will come as no surprise then, to learn that the consensus price target is largely unchanged at US$253. Fixating on a single price target can be unwise though, since the consensus target is effectively the average of analyst price targets. As a result, some investors like to look at the range of estimates to see if there are any diverging opinions on the company's valuation. There are some variant perceptions on Clean Harbors, with the most bullish analyst valuing it at US$300 and the most bearish at US$212 per share. Analysts definitely have varying views on the business, but the spread of estimates is not wide enough in our view to suggest that extreme outcomes could await Clean Harbors shareholders.

One way to get more context on these forecasts is to look at how they compare to both past performance, and how other companies in the same industry are performing. It's pretty clear that there is an expectation that Clean Harbors' revenue growth will slow down substantially, with revenues to the end of 2025 expected to display 3.9% growth on an annualised basis. This is compared to a historical growth rate of 14% over the past five years. By way of comparison, the other companies in this industry with analyst coverage are forecast to grow their revenue at 6.7% per year. Factoring in the forecast slowdown in growth, it seems obvious that Clean Harbors is also expected to grow slower than other industry participants.

The Bottom Line

The most important thing to take away is that there's been no major change in sentiment, with the analysts reconfirming that the business is performing in line with their previous earnings per share estimates. On the plus side, there were no major changes to revenue estimates; although forecasts imply they will perform worse than the wider industry. There was no real change to the consensus price target, suggesting that the intrinsic value of the business has not undergone any major changes with the latest estimates.

With that said, the long-term trajectory of the company's earnings is a lot more important than next year. We have estimates - from multiple Clean Harbors analysts - going out to 2027, and you can see them free on our platform here.

Even so, be aware that Clean Harbors is showing 2 warning signs in our investment analysis , you should know about...

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