Forensic Analysis · Nonmetallic Mineral Mining & Quarrying · as of Nov 9, 2026
Compass Minerals International Inc (CMP)
A forensic read on Compass Minerals International Inc built from its complete SEC filings — financial-health screens, earnings quality, red flags and a price-aware rating. Reproducible math, not opinion.
D · Weak — demands caution
Forensic grade
Grey Zone
Financial health
1.5
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
4
Forensic signals
-29.0%
ROE
11.3%
Revenue growth
This free snapshot doesn't read filing or proxy text, so the auditor-quality and governance checks that can lower a grade were not evaluated (auditor quality, say on pay, board independence, going concern). Those checks only ever lower a grade, so the full analysis can land below the grade above but never above it — treat it as the most favourable reading, not the settled one.
Compass Minerals International Inc earns a D (Weak — demands caution) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 1.5, placing it in the Grey zone. 4 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by return on invested capital.
What the filings flag
1.5%
FY2025
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is 1.5% in the latest fiscal year, against 3.3% in FY2023, having run between -6.3% and 3.3% across FY2023–FY2025 with no direction held. After-tax operating profit was $50M in FY2023 and $20M in FY2025, with operating income at 6.4% of revenue in FY2023, -10.5% in FY2024 and 2.0% in FY2025. The capital base behind it came down -14% across FY2023–FY2025, from $1.5B to $1.3B, so this return is struck on a smaller base than it started on. FY2025's operating profit carried a $54M asset write-down that alone took about 3.3 points off that year's return, so more than the whole 1.8-point fall across FY2023–FY2025 is that charge landing in the latest year rather than the capital earning less. FY2024's operating profit carried a $193M asset write-down and a $83M goodwill write-off that alone took about 15.0 points off that year's return; FY2024 sits between the two ends of FY2023–FY2025, so the charge shapes the path between them without moving the change across it. A non-cash write-down lowers the reported return in the year it lands.
stopped
FY2024→FY2025
Shareholder returns — halted.Capital returns have STOPPED — $13M of buybacks + dividends in FY2024, but ~$0 in FY2025. A halt usually means the company is conserving cash.
53d DSO
FY2024→FY2025
Receivables vs revenue.Days sales outstanding moved from 41 to 53 days FY2024→FY2025 (receivables +42% vs revenue +11%). Receivables are creeping up relative to sales. Across FY2023–FY2025 the day count ran 39 → 41 → 53 days, so the latest reading sits on top of a record that was flat or falling before it — one year's move, not a direction the business has been travelling in. Deferred revenue was roughly flat (-56%) over the same period, which doesn't corroborate a benign upfront-billing explanation for the receivables build. Both figures are measured on period-end balances rather than the beginning-plus-ending average, because averaging needs the balance a year before every reading — FY2024's opening balance is on file, but across the 3 fiscal years read here (FY2023–FY2025) the average yields only 2 day counts (1 step), too few to tell a climb from one year's move.DSO (days sales outstanding): the average days the company waits to collect cash after a sale.
$83M
FY2024
Goodwill impairments.Took $83M of goodwill writedowns across 1 year (FY2024 ($83M)). Writedowns mean past acquisitions underperformed what was paid for them.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$1.24B
Revenue Growth YoY+11.3%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)+1.6%
Net Margin-6.4%
Free Cash Flow$128.0M
Return on Equity-29.0%
Debt / Equity3.55x
The forensic grade and screens above are free — no account needed. Want the AI investment read on top — the 0–100 rating, thesis, bull-vs-bear, red flags and the 12-month scenario, written from Compass Minerals International Inc's actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?