Compass Minerals International, Inc. (NYSE:CMP) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Alex Chen: Thank you for that. And one last question, if I may. Are we correct to assume that implied company-wide fiscal 2023 EBITDA guidance is around $220 million to $230 million, after adjusting for corporate costs? And maybe you could talk a bit about why only the segment EBITDA guidance is provided and not company-wide guidance?

Lorin Crenshaw: Yeah. So, thanks for that question. So, we’ve taken a different approach to earnings guidance this year that really reflects the reality that, although over a long period of time this business is stable and delivers profitability and volumes at, what I would call, the middle of the bell curve, when you think about snow days. In any given year, the earnings profile ranges, and so what we’ve done is provide investors more information than we ever have with respect to the range of potential outcomes in terms of the earnings power of the business. And the way you get to an EBITDA is simply to add the segments and subtract corporate expenses, that’s the way we’ve always done it. But rather than focus on a specific numeric adjusted EBITDA, we’re providing a range of potential outcomes.

And so, in that 2023 range on slide 17, the midpoint is on the order of 220, and on the high side it approaches in a strong winter, 270. But our focus is on having a conversation about earnings power as opposed to just a normalized earnings number. And so that’s the way I’d look at it.

Alex Chen: Perfect. Thank you so much.

Operator: The next question is from Jeff Zekauskas with JPMorgan. Your line is open.

Jeff Zekauskas: Thanks so much. There was a lot of snow in Buffalo recently, and there has been some snow in the Midwest. How’s your first quarter looking, sort of year-over-year, when you look at November volumes versus history? Have things been unusually strong or are they normal or weak?

Kevin Crutchfield: Yes. Jeff, I’ll come in, and let Jamie provide some additional color. I mean, yes, Buffalo got hammered, I don’t know, something on the order of 40 inches. We would prefer 10 4-inch snows as opposed to one, 40-inch level obviously. But I think, we’d say that the season thus far is off to a pretty good start. We’re early in just a couple of months, but so far so good. Anything you’d add, Jamie?

Jamie Standen: I’d say, yeah. It is certainly early. We do like the flow; we like the order book. We’re already refilling some depots. We’ve seen nice weather, kind of Northern Illinois, Wisconsin, Western Michigan, which has been great to see that start. Historically, a bit early, it does need to continue throughout the season obviously. And then, don’t forget about the West. We’ve seen a lot of snowfall in Sierras, the Rockies. We do sell rock salt in the West as well out of Ogden. So that bodes well for drought conditions and lake levels there, as well on the operations side. So, really feel pretty good about how we’ve started the season.

Jeff Zekauskas: So, can you quantify — do you have any quantification of what’s going on?

Jamie Standen: No. We feel like we’re tracking right in line with our plan. This start feels a little bit ahead. But again, the season is long, and a bulk of the activity — winter weather activity for our first quarter, the December quarter, occurs in the month of December. So, we’re just right at the line there.

Lorin Crenshaw: And I would just say, it goes back to the whole bell curve. Every month is a statistical data point on that bell curve. So it would be entirely premature to speculate about how the next couple of months are going to transpire, but we’re off to a good start in terms of mother nature.