How to buy Compass Minerals International stock | $61.72

Compass Minerals International, Inc is an other industrial metals & mining business based in the US. Compass Minerals International shares (CMP) are listed on the NYSE and all prices are listed in US Dollars. Compass Minerals International employs 3,000 staff and has a trailing 12-month revenue of around USD$1.5 billion.

How to buy shares in Compass Minerals International

1. Compare share trading platforms. If you're a beginner, look for a platform with low commissions, expert ratings and investment tools to track your portfolio. Narrow down top brands with our comparison table.
2. Open and fund your brokerage account. Complete an application with your personal and financial details, like your ID and bank information. Fund your account with a bank transfer, credit card or debit card.
3. Search for Compass Minerals International. Find the stock by name or ticker symbol: CMP. Research its history to confirm it's a solid investment against your financial goals.
4. Purchase now or later. Buy today with a market order or use a limit order to delay your purchase until Compass Minerals International reaches your desired price. To spread out your purchase, look into dollar-cost averaging, which smooths out buying at consistent intervals and amounts.
5. Decide on how many to buy. At last close price of USD$61.72, weigh your budget against a diversified portfolio that can minimize risk through the market's ups and downs. You may be able to buy a fractional share of Compass Minerals International, depending on your broker.
6. Check in on your investment. Congratulations, you own a part of Compass Minerals International. Optimize your portfolio by tracking how your stock — and even the business — performs with an eye on the long term. You may be eligible for dividends and shareholder voting rights on directors and management that can affect your stock.

Compass Minerals International share price

Use our graph to track the performance of CMP stocks over time.

Compass Minerals International shares at a glance

• Key figures

Information last updated 2020-12-27.

Latest market close	USD$61.72
52-week range	USD$33.0963 - USD$66.25
50-day moving average	USD$62.6036
200-day moving average	USD$57.4835
Wall St. target price	USD$62.75
PE ratio	25.669
Dividend yield	USD$2.88 (4.68%)
Earnings per share (TTM)	USD$2.399

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Is it a good time to buy Compass Minerals International stock?

The technical analysis gauge below displays real-time ratings for the timeframes you select. This is not a recommendation, however. It represents a technical analysis based on the most popular technical indicators: Moving Averages, Oscillators and Pivots. Finder might not concur and takes no responsibility.

Technical Analysis of Compass Minerals International, Inc by TradingView

This chart is not advice or a guarantee of success. Rather, it gauges the real-time recommendations of three popular technical indicators: moving averages, oscillators and pivots. Finder is not responsible for how your stock performs.

Compass Minerals International price performance over time

Historical closes compared with the close of $61.72 from 2020-12-31

1 week (2021-01-09)	N/A
1 month (2020-12-18)	1.65%
3 months (2020-10-16)	0.21%
6 months (2020-07-17)	19.96%

1 year (2020-01-17)	3.61%
2 years (2019-01-18)	27.02%
3 years (2018-01-18)	73.3
5 years (2016-01-16)	N/A

Is Compass Minerals International under- or over-valued?

Valuing Compass Minerals International stock is incredibly difficult, and any metric has to be viewed as part of a bigger picture of Compass Minerals International's overall performance. However, analysts commonly use some key metrics to help gauge the value of a stock.

Compass Minerals International's P/E ratio

Compass Minerals International's current share price divided by its per-share earnings (EPS) over a 12-month period gives a "trailing price/earnings ratio" of roughly 26x. In other words, Compass Minerals International shares trade at around 26x recent earnings.

That's relatively low compared to, say, the trailing 12-month P/E ratio for the NASDAQ 100 at the end of 2019 (27.29). The low P/E ratio could mean that investors are pessimistic about the outlook for the shares or simply that they're under-valued.

Compass Minerals International's PEG ratio

Compass Minerals International's "price/earnings-to-growth ratio" can be calculated by dividing its P/E ratio by its growth – to give 0.8557. A low ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer better value, while a higher ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer worse value.

The PEG ratio provides a broader view than just the P/E ratio, as it gives more insight into Compass Minerals International's future profitability. By accounting for growth, it could also help you if you're comparing the share prices of multiple high-growth companies.

Compass Minerals International's EBITDA

Compass Minerals International's EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) is USD$314.4 million.

The EBITDA is a measure of a Compass Minerals International's overall financial performance and is widely used to measure a its profitability.

Compass Minerals International financials

Revenue TTM	USD$1.5 billion
Operating margin TTM	12.55%
Gross profit TTM	USD$336.8 million
Return on assets TTM	5.08%
Return on equity TTM	21.26%
Profit margin	5.73%
Book value	$9.545
Market capitalisation	USD$2.1 billion

TTM: trailing 12 months

Shorting Compass Minerals International shares

There are currently 1.4 million Compass Minerals International shares held short by investors – that's known as Compass Minerals International's "short interest". This figure is 3% down from 1.5 million last month.

There are a few different ways that this level of interest in shorting Compass Minerals International shares can be evaluated.

Compass Minerals International's "short interest ratio" (SIR)

Compass Minerals International's "short interest ratio" (SIR) is the quantity of Compass Minerals International shares currently shorted divided by the average quantity of Compass Minerals International shares traded daily (recently around 202568.83852691). Compass Minerals International's SIR currently stands at 7.06. In other words for every 100,000 Compass Minerals International shares traded daily on the market, roughly 7060 shares are currently held short.

However Compass Minerals International's short interest can also be evaluated against the total number of Compass Minerals International shares, or, against the total number of tradable Compass Minerals International shares (the shares that aren't held by "insiders" or major long-term shareholders – also known as the "float"). In this case Compass Minerals International's short interest could be expressed as 0.04% of the outstanding shares (for every 100,000 Compass Minerals International shares in existence, roughly 40 shares are currently held short) or 0.0539% of the tradable shares (for every 100,000 tradable Compass Minerals International shares, roughly 54 shares are currently held short).

A SIR below 10% would generally be considered to indicate a fairly optimistic outlook for the share price, with fewer people currently willing to bet against Compass Minerals International.

Find out more about how you can short Compass Minerals International stock.

Compass Minerals International share dividends

Dividend payout ratio: 113.39% of net profits

Recently Compass Minerals International has paid out, on average, around 113.39% of net profits as dividends. That has enabled analysts to estimate a "forward annual dividend yield" of 4.68% of the current stock value. This means that over a year, based on recent payouts (which are sadly no guarantee of future payouts), Compass Minerals International shareholders could enjoy a 4.68% return on their shares, in the form of dividend payments. In Compass Minerals International's case, that would currently equate to about $2.88 per share.

Compass Minerals International's payout ratio would broadly be considered high, and as such this stock could appeal to those looking to generate an income. Bear in mind however that companies should normally also look to re-invest a decent amount of net profits to ensure future growth.

Compass Minerals International's most recent dividend payout was on 15 December 2020. The latest dividend was paid out to all shareholders who bought their shares by 30 November 2020 (the "ex-dividend date").

Compass Minerals International share price volatility

Over the last 12 months, Compass Minerals International's shares have ranged in value from as little as $33.0963 up to $66.25. A popular way to gauge a stock's volatility is its "beta".

Beta is a measure of a share's volatility in relation to the market. The market (NYSE average) beta is 1, while Compass Minerals International's is 1.5722. This would suggest that Compass Minerals International's shares are more volatile than the average for this exchange and represent, relatively-speaking, a higher risk (but potentially also market-beating returns).

Compass Minerals International overview

Compass Minerals International, Inc., produces and sells salt, and specialty plant nutrition and chemical products primarily in the United States, Canada, Brazil, the United Kingdom, and internationally. It operates through three segments: Salt, Plant Nutrition North America, and Plant Nutrition South America. The Salt segment offers 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 salt 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 North America segment offers sulfate of potash specialty fertilizers in various grades, including agricultural products used in broadcast spreaders, direct application, and liquid fertilizer solutions; turf products used by the turf and ornamental markets, as well as for blends used on golf course greens; organic products under the Protassium+ brand; and micronutrient products under the Wolf Trax brand, as well as specialty plant nutrition solution-based products and chemical solutions. This segment provides its products to distributors and retailers of crop inputs, as well as growers. The Plant Nutrition South America segment offers various specialty plant nutrients and supplements; water and wastewater treatment chemicals for cleaning, decontaminating, and purifying water; and process chemicals for industrial use. 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 1993 and is headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas.

Frequently asked questions

• What percentage of Compass Minerals International is owned by insiders or institutions?

  Currently 0.935% of Compass Minerals International shares are held by insiders and 93.436% by institutions.

• How many people work for Compass Minerals International?

  Latest data suggests 3,000 work at Compass Minerals International.

• When does the fiscal year end for Compass Minerals International?

  Compass Minerals International's fiscal year ends in December.

• Where is Compass Minerals International based?

  Compass Minerals International's address is: 9900 West 109th Street, Overland Park, KS, United States, 66210

• What is Compass Minerals International's ISIN number?

  Compass Minerals International's international securities identification number is: US20451N1019

• What is Compass Minerals International's CUSIP number?

  Compass Minerals International's Committee on Uniform Securities Identification Procedures number is: 20451N101