Is Emmis Communications Corporation’s (NASDAQ:EMMS) CEO Pay Fair?
Jeff Smulyan became the CEO of Emmis Communications Corporation (NASDAQ:EMMS) in 1981. This report will, first, examine the CEO compensation levels in comparison to CEO compensation at companies of similar size. Next, we’ll consider growth that the business demonstrates. And finally – as a second measure of performance – we will look at the returns shareholders have received over the last few years. This method should give us information to assess how appropriately the company pays the CEO.
View our latest analysis for Emmis Communications
How Does Jeff Smulyan’s Compensation Compare With Similar Sized Companies?
According to our data, Emmis Communications Corporation has a market capitalization of US$53m, and pays its CEO total annual compensation worth US$1m. That’s a fairly small increase of 7.3% on year before. We examined a group of similar sized companies, with market capitalizations of below US$200m. The median CEO compensation in that group is US$292k.
As you can see, Jeff Smulyan is paid more than the median CEO pay at companies of a similar size, in the same market. However, this does not necessarily mean Emmis Communications Corporation 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.
You can see a visual representation of the CEO compensation at Emmis Communications, below.
Is Emmis Communications Corporation Growing?
Over the last three years Emmis Communications Corporation has grown its earnings per share (EPS) by an average of 119% per year. Its revenue is down -31% over last year.
This demonstrates that the company has been improving recently. A good result. The lack of revenue growth isn’t ideal, but it is the bottom line that counts most in business.
We don’t have analyst forecasts, but you could get a better understanding of its growth by checking out this more detailed historical graph of earnings, revenue and cash flow.
Has Emmis Communications Corporation Been A Good Investment?
With a total shareholder return of 21% over three years, Emmis Communications Corporation shareholders would, in general, be reasonably content. But they probably don’t want to see the CEO paid more than is normal for companies around the same size.
In Summary…
We examined the amount Emmis Communications Corporation pays its CEO, and compared it to the amount paid by similar sized companies. Our data suggests that it pays above the median CEO pay within that group.
However, the earnings per share growth over three years is certainly impressive. Looking at the same time period, we think that the shareholder returns are respectable. So, considering the EPS growth we do not wish to criticize the level of CEO compensation, though we’d recommend further research on management. So you may want to check if insiders are buying Emmis Communications Corporation shares with their own money (free access).
Or you might prefer gaze upon this detailed graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow .
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.
