Compass Minerals International, Inc. (CMP)
Basic Materials · NYQ · US
Fundamentals
Valuation and ratings
Compass Minerals International, Inc. trades at USD29.35, which is 60% above the USD11.74 our discounted cash flow model puts on the business. On that measure it screens as expensive, which is not the same as saying it will fall.
Our moat model scores it 9 out of 100, which is little in the way of a moat. A moat is a structural reason competitors cannot take the profits away, and it matters more to a long holding period than any single quarter's numbers do.
It changes hands at 183.4 times earnings. Be careful reading that in isolation: for a cyclical business a low P/E arrives at the top of the cycle, when profits are peaking and about to fall, which is exactly when the shares look cheapest and are not.
About Compass Minerals International, Inc.
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 and sells 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; and organic 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.
Smart money ownership
9 of the funds we track reported a position in their latest SEC 13F filing. Largest first:
- Ken Griffin, CITADEL ADVISORS LLC$4.18M · 0.0% of book
- Renaissance Technologies, RENAISSANCE TECHNOLOGIES LLC$4.04M · 0.0% of book
- Israel Englander, MILLENNIUM MANAGEMENT LLC$3.31M · 0.0% of book
- Marshall Wace, MARSHALL WACE, LLP$1.87M · 0.0% of book
- Cliff Asness, AQR CAPITAL MANAGEMENT LLC$1.61M · 0.0% of book
A word of warning on reading these figures: a 13F reports the market value of a holding, so a fund that traded nothing at all still appears to have sold when the price fell. We found 102 companies where the standard reading gives the opposite answer. Only the share count is honest.
Common questions
Is Compass Minerals International, Inc. (CMP) undervalued?
Against our discounted cash flow estimate of USD11.74, CMP at USD29.35 is 60% above fair value. That is one model's answer, not a recommendation, and most of a DCF's output sits in a terminal value nobody can forecast.
Which funds own CMP?
9 of the institutions we track reported a position in CMP in their most recent SEC 13F filing. A 13F is filed up to 45 days after quarter end, so it tells you what a fund held then, not what it holds now.
What is CMP's P/E ratio?
CMP trades at 183.4 times earnings. A low P/E is not automatically cheap: on a cyclical company it is usually a warning that earnings are at a peak.
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Data from company filings, exchange quotes and SEC EDGAR 13F disclosures. Quotes are delayed. Metrics we do not have are left out rather than estimated. Educational information, not financial advice.