Clean Harbors (NYSE: CLH) and Tetra Tech (NASDAQ:TTEK) are both mid-cap business services companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, risk, dividends, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations and profitabiliy.
Profitability
This table compares Clean Harbors and Tetra Tech’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Clean Harbors | -0.65% | 0.79% | 0.23% |
| Tetra Tech | 4.17% | 13.65% | 6.73% |
Dividends
Tetra Tech pays an annual dividend of $0.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.0%. Clean Harbors does not pay a dividend. Tetra Tech pays out 20.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.
Institutional & Insider Ownership
95.6% of Clean Harbors shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 85.2% of Tetra Tech shares are held by institutional investors. 9.5% of Clean Harbors shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.8% of Tetra Tech shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
Volatility and Risk
Clean Harbors has a beta of 0.82, meaning that its stock price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Tetra Tech has a beta of 1.03, meaning that its stock price is 3% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Analyst Ratings
This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Clean Harbors and Tetra Tech, as provided by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Clean Harbors | 1 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 2.55 |
| Tetra Tech | 0 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 2.57 |
Clean Harbors presently has a consensus target price of $60.90, indicating a potential upside of 12.42%. Tetra Tech has a consensus target price of $49.57, indicating a potential upside of 19.74%. Given Tetra Tech’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Tetra Tech is more favorable than Clean Harbors.
Earnings & Valuation
This table compares Clean Harbors and Tetra Tech’s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | EBITDA | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Clean Harbors | $2.86 billion | 1.08 | $415.29 million | ($0.32) | -169.28 |
| Tetra Tech | $2.03 billion | 1.17 | $212.17 million | $1.97 | 21.02 |
Clean Harbors has higher revenue and earnings than Tetra Tech. Clean Harbors is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Tetra Tech, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
Tetra Tech beats Clean Harbors on 9 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Clean Harbors
Clean Harbors, Inc. is a provider of environmental, energy and industrial services throughout North America. The Company is also a re-refiner and recycler of used oil in the world and a provider of parts cleaning and related environmental services to commercial, industrial and automotive customers in North America. The Company operates in six segments: Technical Services, Industrial Services, Field Services, Safety-Kleen, Oil and Gas Field Services, and Lodging Services. The Company is also a service provider in the recovery and decontamination of pollutants. The Company provides services to protect the ozone layer from the effects of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). The Company offers brands, such as Performance Plus brand and green brand EcoPower. The Company also offers CleanPack services, which include the collection, identification and categorization, packaging, transportation and disposal of laboratory chemicals and household hazardous waste.
About Tetra Tech
Tetra Tech, Inc. is a provider of consulting, engineering, program management, construction management, and technical services. The Company’s segments include Water, Environment and Infrastructure (WEI), Resource Management and Energy (RME), and Remediation and Construction Management (RCM). The WEI segment provides consulting and engineering services. The RME segment provides consulting and engineering services across the world for a range of resource management and energy needs. The Company includes wind-down of its non-core construction activities in the RCM segment. Its solutions span the entire life cycle of consulting and engineering projects and include applied science, research and technology, engineering, design, construction management, operations and maintenance, and information technology. It provides its services to a diverse base of international, the United States commercial, the United Sates federal clients.
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