How Much Did Lifeway Foods Inc’s (NASDAQ:LWAY) CEO Pocket Last Year?
Julie Smolyansky became the CEO of Lifeway Foods Inc (NASDAQ:LWAY) in 2002. This report will, first, examine the CEO compensation levels in comparison to CEO compensation at companies of similar size. 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.
Check out our latest analysis for Lifeway Foods
How Does Julie Smolyansky’s Compensation Compare With Similar Sized Companies?
Our data indicates that Lifeway Foods Inc is worth US$46m, and total annual CEO compensation is US$2.4m. Notably, that’s an increase of 24% over the 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$293k.
As you can see, Julie Smolyansky is paid more than the median CEO pay at companies of a similar size, in the same market. However, this does not necessarily mean Lifeway Foods Inc is paying too much. We can better assess whether the pay is overly generous by looking into the underlying business performance.
You can see a visual representation of the CEO compensation at Lifeway Foods, below.
Is Lifeway Foods Inc Growing?
Over the last three years Lifeway Foods Inc has shrunk its earnings per share by an average of 47% per year. It saw its revenue drop -11% over the last year.
Few shareholders would be pleased to read that earnings per share are lower over three years. And the fact that revenue is down year on year arguably paints an ugly picture. So given this relatively weak performance, shareholders would probably not want to see high compensation for the CEO.
Although we don’t have analyst forecasts, you might want to assess this data-rich visualization of earnings, revenue and cash flow.
Has Lifeway Foods Inc Been A Good Investment?
Since shareholders would have lost about 72% over three years, some Lifeway Foods Inc shareholders would surely be feeling negative emotions. It therefore might be upsetting for shareholders if the CEO were paid generously.
In Summary…
We compared total CEO remuneration at Lifeway Foods Inc with the amount paid at companies with a similar market capitalization. Our data suggests that it pays above the median CEO pay within that group.
Earnings per share have not grown in three years, and the revenue growth fails to impress us.
Just as bad, share price gains for investors have failed to materialize, over the same period. And we’d be remiss not to note that the CEO remuneration has increased on last year. Some might well form the view that the CEO is paid too generously! So you may want to check if insiders are buying Lifeway Foods Inc shares with their own money (free access).
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.
