Comparing Brink’s (NYSE:BCO) & Clean Harbors (NYSE:CLH)

Brink’s (NYSE:BCO) and Clean Harbors (NYSE:CLH) are both industrials companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, risk, analyst recommendations, earnings, valuation, dividends and institutional ownership.

Volatility and Risk

Brink’s has a beta of 0.97, suggesting that its share price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Clean Harbors has a beta of 0.87, suggesting that its share price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Brink’s	3.30%	87.18%	4.95%
Clean Harbors	7.03%	15.65%	5.75%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

95.0% of Brink’s shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 90.4% of Clean Harbors shares are held by institutional investors. 1.0% of Brink’s shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.0% of Clean Harbors shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Brink’s and Clean Harbors”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Brink’s	$5.48 billion	0.82	$199.70 million	$4.32	25.19
Clean Harbors	$6.03 billion	2.80	$390.97 million	$8.24	38.77

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Brink’s and Clean Harbors, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Brink’s	0	1	2	0	2.67
Clean Harbors	0	5	11	2	2.83

Brink’s currently has a consensus target price of $154.00, suggesting a potential upside of 41.50%. Clean Harbors has a consensus target price of $363.07, suggesting a potential upside of 13.66%. Given Brink’s’ higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Brink’s is more favorable than Clean Harbors.

Summary

Clean Harbors beats Brink’s on 11 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Brink’s

The Brink’s Co. engages in providing cash management services, digital retail solutions, and ATM managed services. It operates through the following geographical segments: North America, Latin America, Europe, and Rest of World. The North America segment operates in the U.S. and Canada. The Latin America segment refers to the operations in Latin American countries. The Europe segment relates to operations in European countries. The Rest of World segment focuses on the operations in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. The company was founded by Perry Brink and Fidelia Brink on May 5, 1859 and is headquartered in Richmond, VA.

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.