Does The Ensign Group Inc’s (NASDAQ:ENSG) CEO Salary Reflect Performance?
Christopher Christensen has been the CEO of The Ensign Group Inc (NASDAQ:ENSG) since 2006. First, this article will compare CEO compensation with compensation at similar sized companies. Then we’ll look at a snap shot of the business growth. Third, we’ll reflect on the total return to shareholders over three years, as a second measure of business performance. This method should give us information to assess how appropriately the company pays the CEO.
View our latest analysis for Ensign Group
How Does Christopher Christensen’s Compensation Compare With Similar Sized Companies?
Our data indicates that The Ensign Group Inc is worth US$2.3b, and total annual CEO compensation is US$1.8m. (This is based on the year to 2017). While we always look at total compensation first, we note that the salary component is less, at US$490k. When we examined a selection of companies with market caps ranging from US$1.0b to US$3.2b, we found the median CEO compensation was US$3.5m.
A first glance this seems like a real positive for shareholders, since Christopher Christensen is paid less than the average compensation paid by similar sized companies. However, before we heap on the praise, we should delve deeper to understand business performance.
The graphic below shows how CEO compensation at Ensign Group has changed from year to year.
Is The Ensign Group Inc Growing?
The Ensign Group Inc has increased its earnings per share (EPS) by an average of 8.8% a year, over the last three years It achieved revenue growth of 11% over the last year.
I would argue that the modest growth in revenue is a notable positive. And, while modest, the earnings per share growth is noticeable. So while performance isn’t amazing, we think it really does seem quite respectable.
You might want to check this free visual report on analyst forecasts for future earnings.
Has The Ensign Group Inc Been A Good Investment?
I think that the total shareholder return of 91%, over three years, would leave most The Ensign Group Inc shareholders smiling. So they may not be at all concerned if the CEO is paid more than is normal for companies around the same size.
In Summary…
It appears that The Ensign Group Inc remunerates its CEO below most similar sized companies.
Christopher Christensen is paid less than what is normal at similar size companies, and the total shareholder return has been pleasing over the last three years. We would like to see EPS growth, but in our view it seems the CEO is modestly remunerated. Whatever your view on compensation, you might want to check if insiders are buying or selling Ensign Group shares (free trial).
Or you might rather take a peek at this analytical visualization of historic cash flow, 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.
