Contrasting Compass Minerals International (CMP) and Its Peers

Compass Minerals International (NYSE:CMP) is one of 1,984 public companies in the “Metals & Mining” industry, but how does it contrast to its rivals? We will compare Compass Minerals International to similar businesses based on the strength of its profitability, risk, valuation, analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings and institutional ownership.

Profitability

This table compares Compass Minerals International and its rivals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Compass Minerals International	1.42%	12.75%	2.28%
Compass Minerals International Competitors	-1,168,050,136,845,918,000.00%	-53.09%	-2.11%

Volatility & Risk

Compass Minerals International has a beta of 1.25, meaning that its stock price is 25% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Compass Minerals International’s rivals have a beta of 1.03, meaning that their average stock price is 3% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Compass Minerals International and its rivals, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Compass Minerals International	2	2	1	0	1.80
Compass Minerals International Competitors	6397	22575	32271	1793	2.47

Compass Minerals International presently has a consensus price target of $27.00, indicating a potential upside of 16.08%. As a group, “Metals & Mining” companies have a potential upside of 35.72%. Given Compass Minerals International’s rivals stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Compass Minerals International has less favorable growth aspects than its rivals.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

99.8% of Compass Minerals International shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 16.1% of shares of all “Metals & Mining” companies are owned by institutional investors. 1.0% of Compass Minerals International shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 17.6% of shares of all “Metals & Mining” companies are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Compass Minerals International and its rivals revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Compass Minerals International	$1.24 billion	-$79.80 million	54.09
Compass Minerals International Competitors	$4.65 billion	$279.69 million	-46.29

Compass Minerals International’s rivals have higher revenue and earnings than Compass Minerals International. Compass Minerals International is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its rivals, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Summary

Compass Minerals International rivals beat Compass Minerals International on 7 of the 13 factors compared.

Compass Minerals International Company Profile

Compass Minerals International, Inc., provides essential minerals in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and internationally. It operates through two segments, Salt and Plant Nutrition. The Salt segment produces, markets, and sells sodium chloride and magnesium chloride, including rock salt, mechanically and solar evaporated salt, and brine and flake magnesium chloride products; and purchases potassium chloride and calcium chloride to sell as finished products or to blend with sodium chloride to produce specialty products. This segment provides products for use as a deicer for roadways, consumer, and professional use; as an ingredient in chemical production; for water treatment, human, and animal nutrition; and for various other consumer and industrial uses, as well as records management services. The Plant Nutrition segment produces sulfate of potash specialty fertilizers in various grades that are used in broadcast spreaders, direct application, and liquid fertilizer solutions under the Protassium+ brand name; turf products used by the turf and ornamental markets, as well as for blends used on golf course greens; organic products; and develops and produces a portfolio of magnesium chloride-based aerial and ground fire retardant products. This segment provides its products to distributors and retailers of crop inputs, as well as growers. The company was formerly known as Salt Holdings Corporation and changed its name to Compass Minerals International, Inc. in December 2003. Compass Minerals International, Inc. was founded in 1844 and is headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas.