Clean Harbors Beats on Both Top and Bottom Lines

Seth Jayson, The Motley Fool
Updated

Clean Harbors (NYS: CLH) reported earnings on May 2. Here are the numbers you need to know.

The 10-second takeaway
For the quarter ended March 31 (Q1), Clean Harbors beat expectations on revenues and beat expectations on earnings per share.

Compared to the prior-year quarter, revenue grew significantly and GAAP earnings per share expanded significantly.


Margins grew across the board.

Revenue details
Clean Harbors tallied revenue of $572.0 million. The 13 analysts polled by S&P Capital IQ predicted a top line of $555.7 million on the same basis. GAAP reported sales were 32% higher than the prior-year quarter's $435.0 million.

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Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Dollar amounts in millions. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

EPS details
EPS came in at $0.60. The 13 earnings estimates compiled by S&P Capital IQ predicted $0.57 per share. GAAP EPS of $0.60 for Q1 were 40% higher than the prior-year quarter's $0.43 per share.

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Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

Margin details
For the quarter, gross margin was 30.0%, 190 basis points better than the prior-year quarter. Operating margin was 10.8%, 170 basis points better than the prior-year quarter. Net margin was 5.6%, 40 basis points better than the prior-year quarter.

Looking ahead
Next quarter's average estimate for revenue is $542.7 million. On the bottom line, the average EPS estimate is $0.63.

Next year's average estimate for revenue is $2.25 billion. The average EPS estimate is $2.56.

Investor sentiment
The stock has a four-star rating (out of five) at Motley Fool CAPS, with 309 members out of 327 rating the stock outperform, and 18 members rating it underperform. Among 88 CAPS All-Star picks (recommendations by the highest-ranked CAPS members), 83 give Clean Harbors a green thumbs-up, and five give it a red thumbs-down.

Of Wall Street recommendations tracked by S&P Capital IQ, the average opinion on Clean Harbors is outperform, with an average price target of $71.89.

At the time thisarticle was published Seth Jayson had no position in any company mentioned here at the time of publication. You can view his stock holdings here. He is co-advisor ofMotley Fool Hidden Gems, which provides new small-cap ideas every month, backed by a real-money portfolio. The Motley Fool owns shares of Clean Harbors. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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