Reviewing DuPont de Nemours (NYSE:DD) and Compass Minerals International (NYSE:CMP)

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

Insider and Institutional Ownership

99.8% of Compass Minerals International shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 74.0% of DuPont de Nemours shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.0% of Compass Minerals International shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of DuPont de Nemours shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Compass Minerals International and DuPont de Nemours’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Compass Minerals International	-2.82%	8.69%	1.39%
DuPont de Nemours	-6.17%	7.81%	4.98%

Volatility & Risk

Compass Minerals International has a beta of 1.17, indicating that its share price is 17% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, DuPont de Nemours has a beta of 1.1, indicating that its share price is 10% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Compass Minerals International pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. DuPont de Nemours pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. Compass Minerals International pays out -65.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. DuPont de Nemours pays out -43.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Compass Minerals International is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Compass Minerals International and DuPont de Nemours, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Compass Minerals International	2	2	1	0	1.80
DuPont de Nemours	1	4	11	0	2.63

Compass Minerals International presently has a consensus target price of $22.00, indicating a potential upside of 0.80%. DuPont de Nemours has a consensus target price of $46.42, indicating a potential downside of 0.72%. Given Compass Minerals International’s higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Compass Minerals International is more favorable than DuPont de Nemours.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Compass Minerals International and DuPont de Nemours”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Compass Minerals International	$1.33 billion	0.69	-$79.80 million	($0.92)	-23.72
DuPont de Nemours	$12.39 billion	1.58	$703.00 million	($1.84)	-25.41

DuPont de Nemours has higher revenue and earnings than Compass Minerals International. DuPont de Nemours 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.

Summary

Compass Minerals International beats DuPont de Nemours on 10 of the 16 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 DuPont de Nemours

DuPont de Nemours, Inc. provides technology-based materials and solutions in the United States, Canada, the Asia Pacific, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. It operates through Electronics & Industrial, Water & Protection, and Corporate & Other segments. The Electronics & Industrial segment supplies materials and solutions for the fabrication of semiconductors and integrated circuits. This segment also provides semiconductor and advanced packaging materials; dielectric and metallization solutions for chip packaging; and silicones for light emitting diode packaging and semiconductor applications; permanent and process chemistries for the fabrication of printed circuit boards to include laminates and substrates, and electroless and electrolytic metallization solutions, and electromagnetic shielding and thermal management solutions, as well as patterning solutions, and materials and metallization processes for metal finishing, decorative, and industrial applications. In addition, it offers various materials to manufacture rigid and flexible displays for organic light emitting diode, and other display applications; provides high performance parts, and specialty silicone elastomers, and lubricants to automotive, aerospace, electronics, industrial, and healthcare markets; and photopolymer plates and platemaking systems used in flexographic printing, and digital inks for textile, commercial, and home-office printing applications. The Water & Protection segment provides engineered products and integrated systems for worker safety, water purification and separation, transportation, energy, medical packaging and building materials. The Corporate & Other segment offers auto adhesives and fluids; Multibase; and Tedlar products. The company was formerly known as DowDuPont Inc. and changed its name to DuPont de Nemours, Inc. in June 2019. DuPont de Nemours, Inc. was incorporated in 2015 and is headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware.