Is Pioneer Energy Services Corp.’s (NYSE:PES) CEO Pay Fair?
In 2003 William Locke was appointed CEO of Pioneer Energy Services Corp. (NYSE:PES). First, this article will compare CEO compensation with compensation at similar sized companies. Next, we’ll consider growth that the business demonstrates. Third, we’ll reflect on the total return to shareholders over three years, as a second measure of business performance. The aim of all this is to consider the appropriateness of CEO pay levels.
View our latest analysis for Pioneer Energy Services
How Does William Locke’s Compensation Compare With Similar Sized Companies?
According to our data, Pioneer Energy Services Corp. has a market capitalization of US$120m, and pays its CEO total annual compensation worth US$4.4m. (This figure is for the year to 2017). While we always look at total compensation first, we note that the salary component is less, at US$744k. We looked at a group of companies with market capitalizations under US$200m, and the median CEO compensation was US$304k.
As you can see, William Locke is paid more than the median CEO pay at companies of a similar size, in the same market. However, this does not necessarily mean Pioneer Energy Services Corp. 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 Pioneer Energy Services, below.
Is Pioneer Energy Services Corp. Growing?
Pioneer Energy Services Corp. has increased its earnings per share (EPS) by an average of 42% a year, over the last three years In the last year, its revenue is up 47%.
This demonstrates that the company has been improving recently. A good result. It’s great to see that revenue growth is strong, too. These metrics suggest the business is growing strongly.
Shareholders might be interested in this free visualization of analyst forecasts. .
Has Pioneer Energy Services Corp. Been A Good Investment?
Given the total loss of 38% over three years, many shareholders in Pioneer Energy Services Corp. are probably rather dissatisfied, to say the least. So shareholders would probably think the company shouldn’t be too generous with CEO compensation.
In Summary…
We compared the total CEO remuneration paid by Pioneer Energy Services Corp., and compared it to remuneration at a group of similar sized companies. We found that it pays well over the median amount paid in the benchmark group.
However we must not forget that the EPS growth has been very strong over three years. On the other hand returns to investors over the same period have probably disappointed many. While EPS is positive, we’d say shareholders would want better returns before the CEO is paid much more. So you may want to check if insiders are buying Pioneer Energy Services 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.
