Waste Management (WM) Competitors

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) and Clean Harbors (NYSE:CLH) are both large-cap business services companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their media sentiment, institutional ownership, risk, analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, earnings and profitability.

Do analysts prefer WM or CLH?

Waste Management presently has a consensus target price of $254.35, suggesting a potential upside of 18.32%. Clean Harbors has a consensus target price of $263.40, suggesting a potential upside of 12.85%. Given Waste Management's higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Waste Management is more favorable than Clean Harbors.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Waste Management	0 Sell rating(s)	9 Hold rating(s)	12 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.70
Clean Harbors	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.90

Which has preferable valuation & earnings, WM or CLH?

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

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Waste Management	$22.06B	3.92	$2.75B	$6.74	31.89
Clean Harbors	$5.94B	2.11	$402.30M	$7.12	32.78

Does the media refer more to WM or CLH?

In the previous week, Waste Management had 25 more articles in the media than Clean Harbors. MarketBeat recorded 40 mentions for Waste Management and 15 mentions for Clean Harbors. Clean Harbors' average media sentiment score of 1.74 beat Waste Management's score of 0.63 indicating that Clean Harbors is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Waste Management	22 Very Positive mention(s)	9 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	3 Negative mention(s)	4 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Clean Harbors	14 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Do institutionals and insiders believe in WM or CLH?

80.4% of Waste Management shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 90.4% of Clean Harbors shares are held by institutional investors. 0.2% of Waste Management shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 5.6% of Clean Harbors shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Is WM or CLH more profitable?

Waste Management has a net margin of 11.36% compared to Clean Harbors' net margin of 6.48%. Waste Management's return on equity of 34.37% beat Clean Harbors' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Waste Management	11.36%	34.37%	6.91%
Clean Harbors	6.48%	14.82%	5.24%

Which has more volatility & risk, WM or CLH?

Waste Management has a beta of 0.64, suggesting that its stock price is 36% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Clean Harbors has a beta of 1.22, suggesting that its stock price is 22% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Waste Management beats Clean Harbors on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.