Compass Minerals International Inc (CMP) Stock — Forensic Analysis, Red Flags & Rating | Stockonomy · Stockonomy
Forensic Analysis · Materials / Mining & Chemicals · as of Sep 24, 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
2.1
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
5
Forensic signals
54.5
P / E (ttm)
-34.1%
ROE
$974M
Market cap
2.38%
Dividend yield
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 (red flags, auditor quality, say on pay, board independence, going concern, valuation). 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 2.1, placing it in the Grey zone. 5 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by return on invested capital.
What the filings flag
1.7%
FY2025
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is 1.7% in the latest fiscal year, against 3% in FY2023, having run between -6.5% and 3.3% across FY2023–FY2025 with no direction held. The capital base behind it came down -21% across FY2023–FY2025, from $1.5B to $1.2B, so this is a return struck on a smaller base rather than a record of money put to work.
+1.3%/yr
FY2023–FY2025
Share-count dilution.Diluted share count changed +3% over the last 2 years to FY2025 (+1.3%/yr). The count is growing: more stock was issued than repurchased over this window, so aggregate results grew faster than their per-share equivalents. That's ~1.3% shaved off per-share growth every year — total profit has to grow that much just to keep earnings-per-share flat, and a stake held since FY2023 has been diluted ~2%.
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.
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-34.1%
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?
Data from SEC EDGAR public filings · metrics as of Sep 24, 2026. Forensic signals flag probability, not certainty.
$83M
FY2024–FY2024
Goodwill impairments.Took $83M of goodwill writedowns across 1 year (FY2024 ($83M)). Writedowns mean past acquisitions underperformed what was paid for them.