How Much is The Charles Schwab Corporation's (NYSE:SCHW) CEO Getting Paid?
Walt Bettinger has been the CEO of The Charles Schwab Corporation (NYSE:SCHW) since 2008. This report will, first, examine the CEO compensation levels in comparison to CEO compensation at other big companies. After that, we will consider the growth in the business. And finally we will reflect on how common stockholders have fared in the last few years, as a secondary measure of performance. The aim of all this is to consider the appropriateness of CEO pay levels.
Check out our latest analysis for Charles Schwab
How Does Walt Bettinger's Compensation Compare With Similar Sized Companies?
According to our data, The Charles Schwab Corporation has a market capitalization of US$58b, and pays its CEO total annual compensation worth US$16m. (This is based on the year to December 2018). While we always look at total compensation first, we note that the salary component is less, at US$1.3m. We took a group of companies with market capitalizations over US$8.0b, and calculated the median CEO total compensation to be US$11m. Once you start looking at very large companies, you need to take a broader range, because there simply aren't that many of them.
Thus we can conclude that Walt Bettinger receives more in total compensation than the median of a group of large companies in the same market as The Charles Schwab Corporation. However, this doesn't necessarily mean the pay is too high. A closer look at the performance of the underlying business will give us a better idea about whether the pay is particularly generous.
You can see, below, how CEO compensation at Charles Schwab has changed over time.
Is The Charles Schwab Corporation Growing?
On average over the last three years, The Charles Schwab Corporation has grown earnings per share (EPS) by 29% each year (using a line of best fit). Its revenue is up 15% over last year.
This demonstrates that the company has been improving recently. A good result. It's a real positive to see this sort of growth in a single year. That suggests a healthy and growing business. You might want to check this free visual report on analyst forecasts for future earnings.
Has The Charles Schwab Corporation Been A Good Investment?
Boasting a total shareholder return of 57% over three years, The Charles Schwab Corporation has done well by shareholders. 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 The Charles Schwab Corporation, and compared it to remuneration at a group of other large companies. As discussed above, we discovered that the company pays more than the median of that group.
However we must not forget that the EPS growth has been very strong over three years. In addition, shareholders have done well over the same time period. So, considering this good performance, the CEO compensation may be quite appropriate. Shareholders may want to check for free if Charles Schwab insiders are buying or selling shares.
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.
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.
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. Thank you for reading.
