Yahoo Finance Is Hess Corporation's (NYSE:HES) CEO Salary Justified?
John Hess became the CEO of Hess Corporation (NYSE:HES) in 1995. This analysis aims first to contrast CEO compensation with other large companies. After that, we will consider the growth in the business. And finally - as a second measure of performance - we will look at the returns shareholders have received over the last few years. This method should give us information to assess how appropriately the company pays the CEO.
Check out our latest analysis for Hess
How Does John Hess's Compensation Compare With Similar Sized Companies?
Our data indicates that Hess Corporation is worth US$20b, and total annual CEO compensation was reported as US$13m for the year to December 2018. We think total compensation is more important but we note that the CEO salary is lower, at US$1.5m. We note that more than half of the total compensation is not the salary; and performance requirements may apply to this non-salary portion. We looked at a group of companies with market capitalizations over US$8.0b and the median CEO total compensation was US$11m. (We took a wide range because the CEOs of massive companies tend to be paid similar amounts - even though some are quite a bit bigger than others).
So John Hess receives a similar amount to the median CEO pay, amongst the companies we looked at. While this data point isn't particularly informative alone, it gains more meaning when considered with business performance.
You can see, below, how CEO compensation at Hess has changed over time.
Is Hess Corporation Growing?
On average over the last three years, Hess Corporation has grown earnings per share (EPS) by 45% each year (using a line of best fit). In the last year, its revenue is up 13%.
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. Shareholders might be interested in this free visualization of analyst forecasts.
Has Hess Corporation Been A Good Investment?
Boasting a total shareholder return of 47% over three years, Hess Corporation has done well by shareholders. This strong performance might mean some shareholders don't mind if the CEO were to be paid more than is normal for a company of its size.
In Summary...
John Hess is paid around the same as most CEOs of large companies.
Shareholders would surely be happy to see that shareholder returns have been great, and the earnings per share are up. So one could argue the CEO compensation is quite modest, if you consider company performance! Shareholders may want to check for free if Hess insiders are buying or selling shares.
Important note: Hess may not be the best stock to buy. You might find something better in this list of interesting companies with high ROE 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.
