Critical Comparison: Vestis (NYSE:VSTS) versus Clean Harbors (NYSE:CLH)

Clean Harbors (NYSE:CLH) and Vestis (NYSE:VSTS) are both industrials companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk, valuation, profitability, dividends and earnings.

Risk & Volatility

Clean Harbors has a beta of 0.87, suggesting that its stock price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Vestis has a beta of 0.9, suggesting that its stock price is 10% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Clean Harbors and Vestis’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Clean Harbors	8.05%	18.27%	6.75%
Vestis	-0.20%	7.27%	2.20%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

90.4% of Clean Harbors shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 97.4% of Vestis shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.0% of Clean Harbors shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 15.7% of Vestis shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Clean Harbors and Vestis, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Clean Harbors	0	5	11	2	2.83
Vestis	4	3	1	0	1.62

Clean Harbors presently has a consensus price target of $365.21, indicating a potential upside of 20.80%. Vestis has a consensus price target of $12.66, indicating a potential downside of 14.40%. Given Clean Harbors’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Clean Harbors is more favorable than Vestis.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Clean Harbors and Vestis”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Clean Harbors	$6.03 billion	2.64	$390.97 million	$9.96	30.35
Vestis	$2.73 billion	0.71	-$40.22 million	($0.05)	-295.80

Clean Harbors has higher revenue and earnings than Vestis. Vestis is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Clean Harbors, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Clean Harbors beats Vestis on 11 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Clean Harbors

Clean Harbors, Inc. provides environmental and industrial services in the United States and internationally. The company operates through two segments, Environmental Services and Safety-Kleen Sustainability Solutions. The Environmental Services segment collects, transports, treats, and disposes hazardous and non-hazardous waste, such as resource recovery, physical treatment, fuel blending, incineration, landfill disposal, wastewater treatment, lab chemicals disposal, and explosives management services; and offers CleanPack services, including collection, identification, categorization, specialized packaging, transportation, and disposal of laboratory chemicals and household hazardous waste. This segment also provides industrial maintenance and specialty industrial services; and utilizes specialty equipment and resources that performs field services. The Safety-Kleen Sustainability Solutions segment provides pickup and transportation services for hazardous and non-hazardous containerized waste for recycling or disposal; machine cleaning and maintenance, and disposal and replenishment of clean solvent or aqueous fluids; and vacuum services to remove solids, residual oily water, and sludge and other fluids from customers' oil/water separators, sumps, and collection tanks, as well as removes and collects waste fluids found at large and small industrial locations, including metal fabricators, auto maintenance providers, and general manufacturers. This segment also manufactures, formulates, packages, distributes, and markets lubricants and other automotive products. Clean Harbors, Inc. was incorporated in 1980 and is headquartered in Norwell, Massachusetts.

About Vestis

Vestis Corporation provides uniform rentals and workplace supplies in the United States and Canada. Its products include uniform options, such as shirts, pants, outerwear, gowns, scrubs, high visibility garments, particulate-free garments, and flame-resistant garments, as well as shoes and accessories; and workplace supplies, including managed restroom supply services, first-aid supplies and safety products, floor mats, towels, and linens. The company serves manufacturing, hospitality, retail, food processing, food service, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, automotive, and cleanroom industries. Vestis Corporation was founded in 1936 and is headquartered in Roswell, Georgia.