This week, I'm seeking the second robust dividend-paying stock from the basic materials business sector for my Ivy portfolio. 

That basic materials sector has thirteen industries all related to mining, making, and delivering essential commodities. They are: agricultural inputs; aluminum; building materials; chemicals; coal; copper; industrial metals; gold; paper; silver; specialty chemicals; steel.

Today I'm reviewing a small-cap industrial metals and minerals company, named Compass Minerals International Inc. Its trading ticker symbol is CMP. I last reported on this company on September 13th as a candidate for the Safari portfolio.

Compass Minerals International Inc. is in the mining industry. It produces minerals, including salt, sulfate of potash specialty fertilizer and magnesium chloride. 

Back to the salt mines!

The company sells products primarily in the United States, Canada, Brazil, and the United Kingdom. It operates in three segments: Salt, Plant Nutrition North America, and Plant Nutrition South America. 

The Salt segment offers sodium chloride and magnesium chloride, including rock salt, mechanically and solar evaporated salt, and brine and flake magnesium chloride 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 other consumer and industrial uses. 

The Plant Nutrition North America segment offers sulfate of potash specialty fertilizers in various grades, including agricultural products. This segment provides its products to distributors and retailers of crop inputs, as well as growers. 

The Plant Nutrition South America segment offers various specialty plant nutrients and supplements; water and wastewater treatment chemicals for cleaning, decontaminating, and purifying water; and process chemicals for industrial use. 

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 1993 and is headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas.

I use three key data points to gauge the value of any dividend equity or fund like Compass Minerals International Inc (CMP): 

(1) Price

(2) Dividends

(3) Returns

Besides those three, four more keys will finally unlock an equity or fund in which to invest.

But those first three primary keys, best tell whether a company has made, is making, and will make money. 

CMP Price

Compass's price per share was $52.50 at Friday's market close.  A year ago its price was $64.70 for a price decrease of $12.20 per share for the year, that's an 18.9% drop. 

Assuming CMP's price will trade in the range of $45 to $75  next year, Compass's recent $52.50 price could improve by $8.00 and grow to $60.50 by late-November, 2019. 

CMP Dividends

Compass's most recent quarterly dividend was $0.72 declared November 8th and payable December 17th. 

That $0.72 quarterly stipend equates to an annual dividend of $2.88 yielding 5.49% at Friday's closing $52.50 price.

Gains For CMP?

Adding the $2.88 calculated annual dividend to my estimated $8.00 annual price upside for Compass Minerals International Inc. (CMP) makes a $10.88 potential gross annual per share gain, which will be reduced by costs to trade the shares.  

 A little under $1,000.00 invested today at the $52.50 recent price buys 19 CMP shares. 

A $10 broker fee paid half at purchase and half at sale costs $0.53 per share, subtracting that $0.53 brokerage cost from the estimated $10.88 gross annual gain leaves a net gain of $10.35 X 19 shares = $196.65 for a 19.65% net gain on a $997.50 investment.

Therefore, Compass Minerals International Inc., whose trading ticker symbol is CMP, now shows a possible 19.65% net gain including a 5.49% dividend yield. 

Ten brokers cover this stock:

Four brokers say "buy" CMP

One broker says CMP will "outperform" its peers.

Three say "hold" your CMP shares.

Two say CMP will "underperform" its peers.

Those ten Wall Street wizards collectively price CMP shares at $62.67 next November. That's nearly $2.27 over my $60.50 estimate. 

Therefore, you may look at these speculative numbers as follows: Compass Minerals International Inc. whose trading ticker symbol is CMP, has made money, is making money, and could net an 18% to a 25% net annual gain including a 5.49% dividend yield. It could be more, it could be less. 

The above speculation is based on past year performance. The actual results remain to be seen to determine if Compass Minerals International Inc. (CMP) is worth your time and money.