Financial Contrast: Intrepid Potash (IPI) & Its Competitors

Intrepid Potash (NYSE:IPI) is one of 295 publicly-traded companies in the “Chemicals” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its rivals? We will compare Intrepid Potash to similar businesses based on the strength of its institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings, valuation, risk and profitability.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

56.1% of Intrepid Potash shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 47.4% of shares of all “Chemicals” companies are held by institutional investors. 2.3% of Intrepid Potash shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 13.7% of shares of all “Chemicals” companies 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.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Intrepid Potash and its rivals, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Intrepid Potash	1	1	2	1	2.60
Intrepid Potash Competitors	3248	12209	14130	519	2.40

Intrepid Potash presently has a consensus price target of $36.67, indicating a potential upside of 11.59%. As a group, “Chemicals” companies have a potential upside of 8.89%. Given Intrepid Potash’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Intrepid Potash is more favorable than its rivals.

Profitability

This table compares Intrepid Potash and its rivals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Intrepid Potash	8.94%	4.74%	3.73%
Intrepid Potash Competitors	-61.35%	1.23%	-1.42%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Intrepid Potash and its rivals gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Intrepid Potash	$298.33 million	$11.19 million	17.96
Intrepid Potash Competitors	$6.35 billion	$222.31 million	-0.87

Intrepid Potash’s rivals have higher revenue and earnings than Intrepid Potash. Intrepid Potash 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.

Risk & Volatility

Intrepid Potash has a beta of 1.06, meaning that its share price is 6% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Intrepid Potash’s rivals have a beta of 0.92, meaning that their average share price is 8% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Intrepid Potash beats its rivals on 9 of the 13 factors compared.

Intrepid Potash Company Profile

Intrepid Potash, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the extraction and production of the potash in the United States and internationally. It operates through three segments: Potash, Trio, and Oilfield Solutions. The company offers muriate of potash for various markets, such as agricultural market as a fertilizer input; the industrial market as a component in drilling and fracturing fluids for oil and gas wells, as well as an input to other industrial processes; and the animal feed market as a nutrient supplement. It also provides Trio, a specialty fertilizer that delivers potassium, sulfate, and magnesium in a single particle; water for oil and gas services industry; salt for various markets, including animal feed, industrial applications, pool salt, and the treatment of roads and walkways for ice melting or to manage road conditions; magnesium chloride for use as a road treatment agent for deicing and dedusting; brines for use in oil and gas industry to support well workover and completion activities; and metal recovery salts. Intrepid Potash, Inc. was founded in 1999 and is based in Denver, Colorado.