Yahoo Finance How Should Investors React To artnet AG's (ETR:ART) CEO Pay?
Jacob Pabst became the CEO of artnet AG (ETR:ART) in 2012. This analysis aims first to contrast CEO compensation with other companies that have similar market capitalization. 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 process should give us an idea about how appropriately the CEO is paid.
View our latest analysis for artnet
How Does Jacob Pabst's Compensation Compare With Similar Sized Companies?
According to our data, artnet AG has a market capitalization of €21m, and paid its CEO total annual compensation worth €360k over the year to December 2018. While we always look at total compensation first, we note that the salary component is less, at €318k. We took a group of companies with market capitalizations below €185m, and calculated the median CEO total compensation to be €417k.
Pay mix tells us a lot about how a company functions versus the wider industry, and it's no different in the case of artnet. Speaking on an industry level, we can see that nearly 86% of total compensation represents salary, while the remainder of 14% is other remuneration. artnet does not set aside a larger portion of remuneration in the form of salary, maintaining the same rate as the wider market.
That means Jacob Pabst receives fairly typical remuneration for the CEO of a company that size. While this data point isn't particularly informative alone, it gains more meaning when considered with business performance. You can see a visual representation of the CEO compensation at artnet, below.
Is artnet AG Growing?
Over the last three years artnet AG has seen earnings per share (EPS) move in a positive direction by an average of 16% per year (using a line of best fit). Its revenue is up 7.9% over last year.
Overall this is a positive result for shareholders, showing that the company has improved in recent years. It's good to see a bit of revenue growth, as this suggests the business is able to grow sustainably. Although we don't have analyst forecasts you might want to assess this data-rich visualization of earnings, revenue and cash flow.
Has artnet AG Been A Good Investment?
artnet AG has not done too badly by shareholders, with a total return of 6.7%, over three years. But they probably don't want to see the CEO paid more than is normal for companies around the same size.
In Summary...
Remuneration for Jacob Pabst is close enough to the median pay for a CEO of a similar sized company .
We would wish for better returns (whether dividends or capital gains) but we do admire the solid EPS growth on show here. So upon reflection one could argue that the CEO pay is quite reasonable. CEO compensation is an important area to keep your eyes on, but we've also identified 4 warning signs for artnet (1 is a bit unpleasant!) that you should be aware of before investing here.
If you want to buy a stock that is better than artnet, this free list of high return, low debt companies is a great place to look.
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.
