Critical Review: Compass Minerals International (NYSE:CMP) and Tokuyama (OTCMKTS:TKYMY)

Compass Minerals International (NYSE:CMP) and Tokuyama (OTCMKTS:TKYMY) are both small-cap basic materials companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, risk, institutional ownership, valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations and earnings.

Risk and Volatility

Compass Minerals International has a beta of 1.16, suggesting that its stock price is 16% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Tokuyama has a beta of 0.15, suggesting that its stock price is 85% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Compass Minerals International and Tokuyama”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Compass Minerals International	$1.24 billion	0.66	-$79.80 million	($1.92)	-10.22
Tokuyama	$2.25 billion	0.83	$154.35 million	$1.11	11.68

Tokuyama has higher revenue and earnings than Compass Minerals International. Compass Minerals International is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Tokuyama, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

99.8% of Compass Minerals International shares are held by institutional investors. 1.5% of Compass Minerals International shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Compass Minerals International and Tokuyama’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Compass Minerals International	-6.42%	-8.22%	-1.28%
Tokuyama	7.00%	9.54%	5.37%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Compass Minerals International and Tokuyama, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Compass Minerals International	2	2	1	0	1.80
Tokuyama	0	0	0	0	0.00

Compass Minerals International currently has a consensus price target of $20.60, suggesting a potential upside of 4.97%. Given Compass Minerals International’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Compass Minerals International is more favorable than Tokuyama.

Summary

Tokuyama beats Compass Minerals International on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Compass Minerals International

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 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; organic products; and develops and produces a portfolio of magnesium chloride-based aerial and ground fire retardant 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.

About Tokuyama

Tokuyama Corporation produces and sells various chemical products in Japan. The company operates through six segments: Chemicals, Cement, Electronics and Advanced Materials, Life Science, Eco Business, and Others. The Chemicals segment offers caustic soda, soda ash, calcium chloride, sodium silicate cullet, sodium bicarbonate, purified, vinyl chloride monomer, polyvinyl chloride resin, propylene oxide, methylene chloride, and chloroform. The Cement segment provides cement, ready-mixed concrete, and cement-type stabilizer, as well as engages in the resource recycling business. The Electronic and Advanced Materials segment provides polycrystalline silicon; fumed silica and tetrachlorosilane; aluminum nitride; high-purity chemicals for electronics manufacturing and photoresist developer; and isopropyl alcohol. The Life Science segment provides medical diagnosis systems, dental materials and equipment, pharmaceutical ingredients and intermediates, plastic lens-related materials for glasses, and microporous film. The Eco Business segment offers plastic window sashes, ion exchange membranes, as well as engages in waste gypsum board recycling activity. The company was formerly known as Tokuyama Soda Co., Ltd. and changed its name to Tokuyama Corporation in April 1994. Tokuyama Corporation was incorporated in 1918 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.