One-glance verdict
Undervalued
$33.91 our estimate vs market $23.74
Wall Street consensus: $30.75 (-9.3% lower than our fair-value estimate)
30% below our estimate, below the bear case
Fundamentals snapshot
Compass Minerals International, Inc.
CMP · NYQ · Basic Materials · Other Industrial Metals & Mining
Current price
$23.74
52-week range
$16.40 - $34.50
Market cap
$996.63M
Balance sheet
Distressed
1.15x Concerning
Net debt $718.30M. Interest coverage shows how many times profit covers the interest bill.
What stands out
3 Rewards
1 Risk
3 rewards · 1 risks
- Reward Revenue grew 3.9% last year.
- Reward Returns 7.2% on equity, ahead of 60% of its peers.
- Reward Free cash flow was positive in 7/10 years.
- Risk Insider ownership is only 23.2% (peer median: 41.4%).
What this company does
Compass Minerals International, Inc.
Compass Minerals primarily sells two essential products: salt and plant fertilizer. The company's main source of income is selling salt to de-ice roads in the winter, which creates a steady demand that can lead to recurring revenue (money that is highly likely to continue in the future). This matters because selling necessary products for public safety and food production can help make a business more stable, even when the broader economy is struggling.
How the company got here
With roots as far back as 1844, the modern company was formed through a series of acquisitions of salt and mineral businesses in the late 1980s and 1990s. It officially became Compass Minerals International and a publicly traded company in 2003. A key turning point was its expansion into plant nutrition to diversify its business beyond salt. More recently, the company has simplified its operations by selling its South American plant nutrition business to focus on its core salt and North American plant nutrition segments.
What it actually does
Compass Minerals provides essential minerals that you might encounter in everyday life without realizing it. The company mines and produces salt that is used to de-ice roads in the winter, condition water, and in food products. It also creates specialty fertilizers that help farmers grow high-value crops like fruits and vegetables. Think of them as a company that provides key ingredients for safer travel in winter and for the food on your table.
Salt
This is the company's largest business, making up the majority of its sales. The primary product is rock salt sold in large quantities to cities and towns to put on roads for safety during snow and ice. This segment also sells salt for consumer uses, like de-icing your driveway, conditioning your water, and even for use in food. Governments and road maintenance contractors are the main customers for de-icing salt, typically buying through a bidding process.
Plant Nutrition
This is a smaller but important part of the company that produces and sells specialty fertilizers. Its main product is sulfate of potash (often called SOP), a premium fertilizer for crops that are sensitive to chloride, such as fruits, vegetables, and tree nuts. This helps farmers improve the quality and amount of food they can grow. The customers are typically distributors, retailers, and farmers who need these specialized nutrients for high-value crops.
What management is betting on now
The company's current focus is on strengthening its core businesses of salt and North American plant nutrition. They are investing in making their existing mines and production facilities more efficient to lower costs and improve profitability. This includes simplifying their overall business to improve financial stability and generate more consistent cash. Management is also prioritizing disciplined capital allocation (carefully deciding where to spend money on projects) to ensure long-term returns.
Price history
How the share price has moved
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Earnings history
Last 8 quarters — what happened
Click any quarter to read the call summary and what the numbers say.
FY2024 Q4
$-33.60M
FY2025 Q1
$-25.90M
FY2025 Q2
$172.90M
FY2025 Q3
$3.80M
FY2025 Q4
$-22.80M
FY2026 Q1
$-59.80M
FY2026 Q2
$179.20M
FY2026 Q3
$-18.70M
Revenue
$215.30M
Net income
$-5.70M
Diluted EPS
-0.13
Operating cash flow
$2.40M
Free cash flow
$-18.70M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$453.20M
Net income
$12.70M
Diluted EPS
0.30
Operating cash flow
$197.40M
Free cash flow
$179.20M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$396.10M
Net income
$18.60M
Diluted EPS
0.43
Operating cash flow
$-37.00M
Free cash flow
$-59.80M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$227.50M
Net income
$-7.20M
Diluted EPS
—
Operating cash flow
$-6.90M
Free cash flow
$-22.80M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$214.60M
Net income
$-17.00M
Diluted EPS
-0.41
Operating cash flow
$21.80M
Free cash flow
$3.80M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$494.60M
Net income
$-32.00M
Diluted EPS
-0.77
Operating cash flow
$186.90M
Free cash flow
$172.90M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$307.20M
Net income
$-23.60M
Diluted EPS
-0.57
Operating cash flow
$-4.10M
Free cash flow
$-25.90M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$208.80M
Net income
$-39.40M
Diluted EPS
-0.95
Operating cash flow
$-12.70M
Free cash flow
$-33.60M
Fetching…
Sources
Is it cheap or expensive?
Fair value $33.91 vs current price $23.74
Wall Street consensus is the average analyst price target: $30.75 (-9.3% lower than our fair-value estimate).
Our most-likely fair value is $33.91 a share — about 42.8% above today's price of $23.74, so the stock currently looks cheap (undervalued).
Is it drowning in debt?
Distressed
Net debt $718.3M. Interest coverage 1.2x.
Net debt
$718.30M
Interest coverage
1.15x
Compass Minerals International, Inc.'s profit covers its interest bill about 1.2 times over. which is stronger than most peers shown here and 2 peers sit below 1x, which is the danger zone where profit does not fully cover the interest bill.
Distressed
Worse cushion
Baseline
Better cushion
CMP
BASELINE
Compass Minerals International, Inc.
Total debt $774.60M Interest coverage 1.15x This is the baseline the peer rows are being compared against.
Total debt $3.24M Interest coverage 38.24x +3,215% vs CMP Carries about 33.2x more debt cushion than CMP.
Total debt $1.88B Interest coverage 1.71x +48% vs CMP Carries about 1.5x more debt cushion than CMP.
Total debt $250.82M Interest coverage -6.85x -100% vs CMP This peer has almost no interest-payment cushion compared with CMP.
Total debt $2.38M Interest coverage -3.74x -100% vs CMP This peer has almost no interest-payment cushion compared with CMP.
What you should know
The case for and against CMP
3 Rewards
1 Risk
Rewards
-
Revenue grew 3.9% last year.
-
Returns 7.2% on equity, ahead of 60% of its peers.
-
Free cash flow was positive in 7/10 years.
Risks
-
Insider ownership is only 23.2% (peer median: 41.4%).
The numbers
All the key metrics, grouped by purpose
Tap any ? icon to learn what it means.
Valuation
How expensive the stock looks
P/E (TTM)
56.52x
Forward P/E
18.75x
P/B
3.78x
P/S
0.77x
EV/EBITDA
7.80x
PEG ratio
0.12x
Profitability
How much profit each dollar creates
Gross margin
17.2%
Operating margin
5.1%
Net margin
1.4%
ROE
7.2%
ROA
5.0%
Health
Liquidity and balance-sheet strength
Debt / equity
2.94x
Current ratio
2.01x
Quick ratio
0.83x
Total debt
$774.60M
Total cash
$56.30M
Growth
How the business has been compounding
Revenue TTM
$1.29B
Revenue 5Y CAGR
2.1%
EPS TTM
0.42
EPS 5Y CAGR
—
Cash flow
How much cash the business throws off
Operating CF TTM
$155.90M
Free CF TTM
$128.00M
FCF margin
9.9%
Dividend
Shareholder payout
Yield
—
Payout ratio
0.0%
Last ex-div date
2024-03-08