Yahoo Finance Does Elmira Savings Bank’s (NASDAQ:ESBK) CEO Pay Reflect Performance?
In 2014 Tom Carr was appointed CEO of Elmira Savings Bank (NASDAQ:ESBK). This report will, first, examine the CEO compensation levels in comparison to CEO compensation at companies of similar size. 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. This process should give us an idea about how appropriately the CEO is paid.
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How Does Tom Carr’s Compensation Compare With Similar Sized Companies?
Our data indicates that Elmira Savings Bank is worth US$66m, and total annual CEO compensation is US$516k. (This number is for the twelve months until 2017). While this analysis focuses on total compensation, it’s worth noting the salary is lower, valued at US$360k. 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.
It would therefore appear that Elmira Savings Bank pays Tom Carr more than the median CEO remuneration at companies of a similar size, in the same market. However, this fact alone doesn’t mean the remuneration 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.
The graphic below shows how CEO compensation at Elmira Savings Bank has changed from year to year.
Is Elmira Savings Bank Growing?
On average over the last three years, Elmira Savings Bank has grown earnings per share (EPS) by 3.9% each year (using a line of best fit). Its revenue is down -1.8% over last year.
I would argue that the lack of revenue growth in the last year is less than ideal, but I’m happy with the EPS growth. In conclusion we can’t form a strong opinion about business performance yet; but it’s one worth watching.
Although we don’t have analyst forecasts, shareholders might want to examine this detailed historical graph of earnings, revenue and cash flow.
Has Elmira Savings Bank Been A Good Investment?
With a total shareholder return of 24% over three years, Elmira Savings Bank shareholders would, in general, be reasonably content. But they would probably prefer not to see CEO compensation far in excess of the median.
In Summary…
We examined the amount Elmira Savings Bank pays its CEO, and compared it to the amount paid by similar sized companies. We found that it pays well over the median amount paid in the benchmark group.
We generally prefer to see stronger EPS growth, and we’re not particularly impressed with the total shareholder return, over the last three years. Considering this, we wouldn’t want to see any big pay rises, although we’d stop short of calling the CEO compensation unfair. So you may want to check if insiders are buying Elmira Savings Bank 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.
