How Much Did TELUS Corporation's (TSE:T) CEO Pocket Last Year?

Darren Entwistle became the CEO of TELUS Corporation (TSE:T) in 2000. First, this article will compare CEO compensation with compensation at other large companies. Next, we'll consider growth that the business demonstrates. And finally we will reflect on how common stockholders have fared in the last few years, as a secondary measure of performance. This method should give us information to assess how appropriately the company pays the CEO.

See our latest analysis for TELUS

How Does Darren Entwistle's Compensation Compare With Similar Sized Companies?

At the time of writing, our data says that TELUS Corporation has a market cap of CA$33b, and reported total annual CEO compensation of CA$13m for the year to December 2018. While we always look at total compensation first, we note that the salary component is less, at CA$1.4m. We further remind readers that the CEO may face performance requirements to receive the non-salary part of the total compensation. When we examined a group of companies with market caps over CA$11b, we found that their median CEO total compensation was CA$9.1m. Once you start looking at very large companies, you need to take a broader range, because there simply aren't that many of them.

It would therefore appear that TELUS Corporation pays Darren Entwistle more than the median CEO remuneration at large companies, in the same market. However, this fact alone doesn't mean the remuneration is too high. We can better assess whether the pay is overly generous by looking into the underlying business performance.

You can see a visual representation of the CEO compensation at TELUS, below.

Is TELUS Corporation Growing?

TELUS Corporation has increased its earnings per share (EPS) by an average of 11% a year, over the last three years (using a line of best fit). It achieved revenue growth of 4.5% over the last year.

This shows that the company has improved itself over the last few years. Good news for shareholders. It's nice to see a little revenue growth, as this is consistent with healthy business conditions. Shareholders might be interested in this free visualization of analyst forecasts.

Has TELUS Corporation Been A Good Investment?

Most shareholders would probably be pleased with TELUS Corporation for providing a total return of 44% over three years. As a result, some may believe the CEO should be paid more than is normal for companies of similar size.

In Summary...

We examined the amount TELUS Corporation pays its CEO, and compared it to the amount paid by other large companies. As discussed above, we discovered that the company pays more than the median of that group.

Importantly, though, the company has impressed with its earnings per share growth, over three years. Even better, returns to shareholders have been plentiful, over the same time period. As a result of this good performance, the CEO remuneration may well be quite reasonable. If you think CEO compensation levels are interesting you will probably really like this free visualization of insider trading at TELUS.

Important note: TELUS 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.

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.

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