Contrasting Air Products and Chemicals (NYSE:APD) & Compass Minerals International (NYSE:CMP)

Compass Minerals International (NYSE:CMP) and Air Products and Chemicals (NYSE:APD) are both basic materials companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, valuation, institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations and risk.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

99.8% of Compass Minerals International shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 81.7% of Air Products and Chemicals shares are held by institutional investors. 1.0% of Compass Minerals International shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.9% of Air Products and Chemicals shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Compass Minerals International and Air Products and Chemicals’ 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%
Air Products and Chemicals	-2.73%	15.77%	6.75%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Compass Minerals International and Air Products and Chemicals, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Compass Minerals International	2	1	1	1	2.20
Air Products and Chemicals	0	6	10	0	2.63

Compass Minerals International presently has a consensus target price of $22.00, indicating a potential downside of 4.66%. Air Products and Chemicals has a consensus target price of $300.88, indicating a potential upside of 2.91%. Given Air Products and Chemicals’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Air Products and Chemicals is more favorable than Compass Minerals International.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Compass Minerals International and Air Products and Chemicals”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	0.78	-$79.80 million	($0.92)	-25.08
Air Products and Chemicals	$12.04 billion	5.41	-$394.50 million	($1.51)	-193.63

Compass Minerals International has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Air Products and Chemicals. Air Products and Chemicals 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.

Risk & Volatility

Compass Minerals International has a beta of 1.15, indicating that its stock price is 15% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Air Products and Chemicals has a beta of 0.88, indicating that its stock price is 12% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Air Products and Chemicals beats Compass Minerals International on 9 of the 15 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 Air Products and Chemicals

Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. provides atmospheric gases, process and specialty gases, equipment, and related services in the Americas, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, India, and internationally. The company produces atmospheric gases, including oxygen, nitrogen, and argon; process gases, such as hydrogen, helium, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and syngas; and specialty gases for customers in various industries, including refining, chemical, manufacturing, electronics, energy production, medical, food, and metals. It also designs and manufactures equipment for air separation, hydrocarbon recovery and purification, natural gas liquefaction, and liquid helium and liquid hydrogen transport and storage. The company was founded in 1940 and is headquartered in Allentown, Pennsylvania.