For the quarter ended March 2025, Compass Minerals (CMP) reported revenue of $494.6 million, up 35.9% over the same period last year. EPS came in at $0.63, compared to $1.49 in the year-ago quarter.
The reported revenue compares to the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $413.88 million, representing a surprise of +19.50%. The company delivered an EPS surprise of +61.54%, with the consensus EPS estimate being $0.39.
While investors closely watch year-over-year changes in headline numbers -- revenue and earnings -- and how they compare to Wall Street expectations to determine their next course of action, some key metrics always provide a better insight into a company's underlying performance.
As these metrics influence top- and bottom-line performance, comparing them to the year-ago numbers and what analysts estimated helps investors project a stock's price performance more accurately.
Here is how Compass performed in the just reported quarter in terms of the metrics most widely monitored and projected by Wall Street analysts:
- Average Sales Price per ton - Plant Nutrition: $626.02 versus the two-analyst average estimate of $608.85.
- Sales volumes - Total Salt: 5,105 KTon versus 4,150.78 KTon estimated by two analysts on average.
- Average Sales Price per ton - Total Salt: $84.76 versus $87.42 estimated by two analysts on average.
- Sales volumes - Plant Nutrition: 93 KTon versus the two-analyst average estimate of 76 KTon.
- Sales to external customers- Salt: $432.70 million versus $362.42 million estimated by two analysts on average. Compared to the year-ago quarter, this number represents a +39.4% change.
- Sales to external customers- Plant Nutrition: $58.30 million versus the two-analyst average estimate of $46.26 million. The reported number represents a year-over-year change of +16.4%.
- Sales to external customers- Corporate & Other: $3.60 million compared to the $3.55 million average estimate based on two analysts. The reported number represents a change of +2.9% year over year.
- Operating earnings- Plant Nutrition: -$1.80 million versus the two-analyst average estimate of -$3.66 million.
- Operating earnings- Corporate and Other: -$68.20 million versus -$16.50 million estimated by two analysts on average.
- Operating earnings- Salt: $66.90 million versus the two-analyst average estimate of $63.52 million.
Shares of Compass have returned +48.7% over the past month versus the Zacks S&P 500 composite's +10.6% change. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), indicating that it could perform in line with the broader market in the near term.
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
