Should You Be Pleased About The CEO Pay At Vuzix Corporation’s (NASDAQ:VUZI)
In 1997 Paul Travers was appointed CEO of Vuzix Corporation (NASDAQ:VUZI). First, this article will compare CEO compensation with compensation at similar sized companies. Then we’ll look at a snap shot of the business growth. And finally we will reflect on how common stockholders have fared in the last few years, as a secondary measure of performance. This process should give us an idea about how appropriately the CEO is paid.
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How Does Paul Travers’s Compensation Compare With Similar Sized Companies?
Our data indicates that Vuzix Corporation is worth US$112m, and total annual CEO compensation is US$491k. (This figure is for the year to 2017). Notably, the salary of US$475k is the vast majority of the CEO compensation. We examined a group of similar sized companies, with market capitalizations of below US$200m. The median CEO compensation in that group is US$301k.
As you can see, Paul Travers is paid more than the median CEO pay at companies of a similar size, in the same market. However, this does not necessarily mean Vuzix 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 Vuzix, below.
Is Vuzix Corporation Growing?
On average over the last three years, Vuzix Corporation has grown earnings per share (EPS) by 2.0% each year (using a line of best fit). It achieved revenue growth of 69% over the last year.
It’s great to see that revenue growth is strong. And in that context, the modest EPS improvement certainly isn’t shabby. I wouldn’t say this is necessarily top notch growth, but it is certainly promising.
You might want to check this free visual report on analyst forecasts for future earnings.
Has Vuzix Corporation Been A Good Investment?
Given the total loss of 26% over three years, many shareholders in Vuzix Corporation are probably rather dissatisfied, to say the least. This suggests it would be unwise for the company to pay the CEO too generously.
In Summary…
We examined the amount Vuzix 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.
The growth in the business has been uninspiring, but the shareholder returns have arguably been worse, over the last three years. Considering this, we have the opinion that the CEO pay is more on the generous side, than the modest side. Whatever your view on compensation, you might want to check if insiders are buying or selling Vuzix shares (free trial).
Or you might rather take a peek at this analytical visualization of historic cash flow, 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.
