What Did Packaging Corporation of America’s (NYSE:PKG) CEO Take Home Last Year?
In 2010 Mark Kowlzan was appointed CEO of Packaging Corporation of America (NYSE:PKG). This analysis aims first to contrast CEO compensation with other companies that have similar market capitalization. After that, we will consider the growth in the business. Third, we’ll reflect on the total return to shareholders over three years, as a second measure of business performance. The aim of all this is to consider the appropriateness of CEO pay levels.
View our latest analysis for Packaging of America
How Does Mark Kowlzan’s Compensation Compare With Similar Sized Companies?
Our data indicates that Packaging Corporation of America is worth US$8.9b, and total annual CEO compensation is US$11m. We note that’s an increase of 13% above last year. We looked at a group of companies with market capitalizations from US$4.0b to US$12b, and the median CEO compensation was US$7.0m.
As you can see, Mark Kowlzan is paid more than the median CEO pay at companies of a similar size, in the same market. However, this does not necessarily mean Packaging Corporation of America is paying too much. We can get a better idea of how generous the pay is by looking at the performance of the underlying business.
The graphic below shows how CEO compensation at Packaging of America has changed from year to year.
Is Packaging Corporation of America Growing?
Over the last three years Packaging Corporation of America has grown its earnings per share (EPS) by an average of 24% per year. It achieved revenue growth of 11% over the last year.
Overall this is a positive result for shareholders, showing that the company has improved in recent years. IThis sort of respectable year-on-year revenue growth is often seen at a healthy, growing business.
It could be important to check this free visual depiction of what analysts expect for the future.
Has Packaging Corporation of America Been A Good Investment?
I think that the total shareholder return of 60%, over three years, would leave most Packaging Corporation of America shareholders smiling. As a result, some may believe the CEO should be paid more than is normal for companies of similar size.
In Summary…
We compared the total CEO remuneration paid by Packaging Corporation of America, and compared it to remuneration at a group of similar sized companies. Our data suggests that it pays above the median CEO pay within that group.
However we must not forget that the EPS growth has been very strong over three years. Even better, returns to shareholders have been plentiful, over the same time period. So, considering this good performance, the CEO compensation may be quite appropriate. Whatever your view on compensation, you might want to check if insiders are buying or selling Packaging Corporation of America shares (free trial).
Of course, the past can be informative so you might be interested in considering this analytical visualization showing the company history of earnings and revenue.
To help readers see past the short term volatility of the financial market, we aim to bring you a long-term focused research analysis purely driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis does not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements.
The author is an independent contributor and at the time of publication had no position in the stocks mentioned. For errors that warrant correction please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com.
