Yahoo Finance Is Vistra Energy Corp. (NYSE:VST) Excessively Paying Its CEO?
Curt Morgan became the CEO of Vistra Energy Corp. (NYSE:VST) in 2016. This report will, first, examine the CEO compensation levels in comparison to CEO compensation at other big companies. Then we'll look at a snap shot of the business growth. And finally - as a second measure of performance - we will look at the returns shareholders have received over the last few years. This process should give us an idea about how appropriately the CEO is paid.
See our latest analysis for Vistra Energy
How Does Curt Morgan's Compensation Compare With Similar Sized Companies?
According to our data, Vistra Energy Corp. has a market capitalization of US$11b, and paid its CEO total annual compensation worth US$13m over the year to December 2018. While this analysis focuses on total compensation, it's worth noting the salary is lower, valued at US$1.1m. Importantly, there may be performance hurdles relating to the non-salary component of the total compensation. 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 Curt Morgan is paid around the average of the companies we looked at. This doesn't tell us a whole lot on its own, but looking at the performance of the actual business will give us useful context.
You can see, below, how CEO compensation at Vistra Energy has changed over time.
Is Vistra Energy Corp. Growing?
On average over the last three years, Vistra Energy Corp. has grown earnings per share (EPS) by 60% each year (using a line of best fit). Its revenue is up 53% over last year.
This demonstrates that the company has been improving recently. A good result. The combination of strong revenue growth with medium-term earnings per share improvement certainly points to the kind of growth I like to see. Shareholders might be interested in this free visualization of analyst forecasts.
Has Vistra Energy Corp. Been A Good Investment?
Most shareholders would probably be pleased with Vistra Energy Corp. for providing a total return of 39% over three years. So they may not be at all concerned if the CEO were to be paid more than is normal for companies around the same size.
In Summary...
Curt Morgan is paid around the same as most CEOs of large companies.
Few would be critical of the leadership, since returns have been juicy and earnings per share are moving in the right direction. So one could argue the CEO compensation is quite modest, if you consider company performance! CEO compensation is one thing, but it is also interesting to check if the CEO is buying or selling Vistra Energy (free visualization of insider trades).
Arguably, business quality is much more important than CEO compensation levels. So check out this free list of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity and low debt.
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.
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. Thank you for reading.
