How Should Investors Feel About Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Inc.'s (NASDAQ:RARE) CEO Pay?
Emil Kakkis has been the CEO of Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Inc. (NASDAQ:RARE) since 2010. First, this article will compare CEO compensation with compensation at similar sized companies. 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. This method should give us information to assess how appropriately the company pays the CEO.
Check out our latest analysis for Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical
How Does Emil Kakkis's Compensation Compare With Similar Sized Companies?
According to our data, Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Inc. has a market capitalization of US$3.4b, and paid its CEO total annual compensation worth US$4.8m over the year to December 2018. We think total compensation is more important but we note that the CEO salary is lower, at US$680k. We further remind readers that the CEO may face performance requirements to receive the non-salary part of the total compensation. As part of our analysis we looked at companies in the same jurisdiction, with market capitalizations of US$2.0b to US$6.4b. The median total CEO compensation was US$4.9m.
So Emil Kakkis is paid around the average of the companies we looked at. While this data point isn't particularly informative alone, it gains more meaning when considered with business performance.
The graphic below shows how CEO compensation at Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical has changed from year to year.
Is Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Inc. Growing?
Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Inc. has increased its earnings per share (EPS) by an average of 2.1% a year, over the last three years (using a line of best fit). It achieved revenue growth of 124% over the last year.
It's great to see that revenue growth is strong. With that in mind, the modestly improving EPS seems positive. I'd stop short of saying the business performance is amazing, but there are enough positives to justify further research, or even adding the stock to your watch-list. It could be important to check this free visual depiction of what analysts expect for the future.
Has Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Inc. Been A Good Investment?
Since shareholders would have lost about 18% over three years, some Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Inc. shareholders would surely be feeling negative emotions. So shareholders would probably think the company shouldn't be too generous with CEO compensation.
In Summary...
Remuneration for Emil Kakkis is close enough to the median pay for a CEO of a similar sized company .
We would like to see somewhat stronger per share growth. And we think the shareholder returns - over three years - have been underwhelming. So suffice it to say we don't think the compensation is modest. So you may want to check if insiders are buying Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical shares with their own money (free access).
Arguably, business quality is much more important than CEO compensation levels. So check out this free list of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity and low debt.
If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned.
We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Thank you for reading.
