Investors hope Compass Minerals International (NYSE: CMP) will top analyst estimates once again after beating predictions by $0.39 in the previous quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Tuesday, Feb. 7. Compass Minerals International, through its subsidiaries, is a producer and marketer of inorganic mineral products with manufacturing sites in North America and the United Kingdom.

What analysts say:

  • Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts think investors should stand pat on Compass Minerals International, with analysts unanimously rating it hold. Analysts don't like Compass Minerals International as much as competitor Intrepid Potash overall. Three out of 10 analysts rate Intrepid Potash a buy compared to zero out of six for Compass Minerals International. Compass Minerals International's rating hasn't changed over the past three months.
  • Revenue forecasts: On average, analysts predict $320.4 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a decline of 10.1% from the year-ago quarter.
  • Wall Street earnings expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $1.62 per share. Estimates range from $1.25 to $1.97.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are strongly backing the stock, with 97.4% assigning it an outperform rating. The greater community backs the All-Stars, as 96.6% give it a rating of outperform. Fools are bullish on Compass Minerals International and haven't been shy with their opinions lately, logging 230 posts in the past 30 days. Compass Minerals International has a bullish CAPS rating of five out of five stars that is about on par with the Fool community assessment.

Management:
Compass Minerals International's profit has risen year over year by an average of 24.2% over the past five quarters. Revenue has now gone up for three straight quarters.

Now let's look at how efficient management is at running the business. Traditionally, margins represent the efficiency with which companies capture portions of sales dollars. In the last two quarters, Compass Minerals International experienced a boost in operating margins year over year. Operating margins reflect the total sales revenue that the company retains after costs. Here are Compass Minerals International's reported margins for the last four quarters:

Quarter

Q3

Q2

Q1

Q4

Gross Margin

31%

24.6%

27.5%

30%

Operating Margin

21.2%

12.3%

21.7%

23.2%

Net Margin

15.1%

7.8%

14.5%

17.1%

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Earnings estimates provided by Zacks.