Financial Survey: Compass Minerals International (NYSE:CMP) vs. Fortuna Mining (NYSE:FSM)

Compass Minerals International (NYSE:CMP) and Fortuna Mining (NYSE:FSM) are both materials companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, dividends, valuation, earnings, risk and analyst recommendations.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Compass Minerals International and Fortuna Mining”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Compass Minerals International	$1.24 billion	0.77	-$79.80 million	$0.43	52.89
Fortuna Mining	$1.18 billion	2.87	$287.47 million	$1.18	9.72

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

Insider and Institutional Ownership

99.8% of Compass Minerals International shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 33.8% of Fortuna Mining shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.0% of Compass Minerals International shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of Fortuna Mining shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Compass Minerals International and Fortuna Mining, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Compass Minerals International	2	2	1	0	1.80
Fortuna Mining	0	1	4	0	2.80

Compass Minerals International currently has a consensus price target of $27.00, suggesting a potential upside of 18.71%. Fortuna Mining has a consensus price target of $14.00, suggesting a potential upside of 22.00%. Given Fortuna Mining’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Fortuna Mining is more favorable than Compass Minerals International.

Risk & Volatility

Compass Minerals International has a beta of 1.22, suggesting that its share price is 22% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Fortuna Mining has a beta of 1.08, suggesting that its share price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Compass Minerals International	1.42%	12.75%	2.28%
Fortuna Mining	31.99%	17.48%	12.88%

Summary

Fortuna Mining beats Compass Minerals International on 9 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 Fortuna Mining

Fortuna Mining Corp. engages in the precious and base metal mining in Argentina, Burkina Faso, Mexico, Peru, and Côte d’Ivoire. It operates through Mansfield, Sanu, Sango, Cuzcatlan, Bateas, and Corporate segments. The company primarily explores for silver, lead, zinc, and gold. Its flagship project is the Séguéla gold mine, which consists of approximately 62,000 hectares and is located in the Worodougou Region of the Woroba District, Côte d’Ivoire. The company was formerly known as Fortuna Silver Mines Inc. and changed its name to Fortuna Mining Corp. in June 2024. Fortuna Mining Corp. was incorporated in 1990 and is based in Vancouver, Canada.