November 18, 2022
WASHINGTON, DC – Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC is investigating Compass Minerals International, Inc. (NYSE: CMP) (“Compass Minerals” or the “Company”) following the filing of a class action lawsuit alleging violations of the federal securities law.
If you purchased Compass Minerals shares between October 31, 2017 and November 18, 2018 (the “Class Period”) and suffered a financial loss, you may wish to contact Cohen Milstein Partner Steven J. Toll at (202) 408-4600 or stoll@cohenmilstein.com to discuss your legal rights and options.
To serve as lead plaintiff, you must file a motion with the court by December 20, 2022. You are not required to file a lead plaintiff motion to take part in the litigation as an absent class member.
A class action lawsuit alleging violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 by Compass Minerals and three of its former officers and directors (“defendants”) was filed October 21, 2022 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas.
According to the Complaint, Compass Minerals mines and produces essential minerals, including salt for winter roadway safety and other consumer, industrial, and agricultural uses (its Salt segment), and specialty plant nutrition minerals that improve the quality and yield of crops (its Plant Nutrition North America and Plant Nutrition South America segments). The Salt segment represented approximately 60% of the Company’s consolidated revenues during the Class Period.
Within its Salt segment, the Company operates the world’s largest underground rock salt mine, located in Goderich, Ontario, Canada. Routinely hailed by the Company as its “crown jewel,” Goderich was responsible for about one-third of earnings during the Class Period. Before the start of the Class Period, defendants announced the Company would invest in technology to upgrade Goderich from a drilling-and-blasting system to a continuous mining and continuous hauling (“CMCH”) system, primarily to lower operating costs and increase profitability. Defendants forecast at the time that after a $70-80 million investment, the CMCH system would save the Company roughly 23% per unit at Goderich, or $30 million a year, starting in 2018.
During the Class Period, defendants repeatedly said the CMCH upgrade was on track to reduce costs and improve operating results in 2018. According to the Complaint, defendants’ statements were false and/or misleading because they failed to tell investors that costs at the mine were increasing, not decreasing. Defendants also allegedly overstated the amount of salt Goderich could produce using the CMCH system and failed to disclose how known and ongoing production shortfalls could reasonably be expected to reduce the Company’s future operating income.
On October 23, 2018, Compass Minerals pre-announced third quarter 2018 financial results significantly below expectations and lowered its outlook for the rest of the year. On this news, the price of the Company’s stock fell more than 30% over the next two days. Before markets opened on November 19, 2018, the Company announced that its CEO was leaving. The price of Compass Minerals’ stock lost 8% of its value over the next three days.
Investors didn’t learn the extent of defendants’ misrepresentations until September 22, 2022, when the U.S. Securities and Exchange (“SEC”) announced that it had ordered Compass Minerals to pay $12 million to settle charges that it had misled investors about the CMCH upgrade, among other things. In its announcement, the SEC said that the Company misleadingly “failed to tell investors that costs at the mine were increasing rather than decreasing, which substantially undermined the projected savings” and “misled investors by overstating the amount of salt it was able to produce at Goderich.”
Cohen Milstein encourages investors who purchased or otherwise acquired Compass Minerals’ shares or options from October 31, 2017 through November 18, 2018, or former employees with information about this matter, to contact us prior to the December 20, 2022 lead plaintiff deadline.
A lead plaintiff is a representative party acting on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation. Your share in any recovery will not be enhanced or diminished by whether you decide to serve as a lead plaintiff. Any member of the proposed class may retain Cohen Milstein or other attorneys to serve as your counsel in this action or may do nothing and remain an absent class member.
Cohen Milstein has significant experience representing investors in securities class actions, having acted as lead counsel in hundreds of cases and recovered billions of dollars for plaintiffs since 1969. With more than 100 attorneys in offices in Washington, D.C., New York City, Chicago, Philadelphia, Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., and Raleigh, N.C., the firm is active in major litigation pending in federal and state courts throughout the nation.
If you have questions about this notice, the action, or your rights, please contact the following:
Steven J. Toll, Esq.
Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC
1100 New York Avenue, N.W.
Fifth Floor
Washington, D.C. 20005
Telephone: (888) 240-0775 or (202) 408-4600
Email: stoll@cohenmilstein.com
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. This may be considered Attorney Advertising.
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