Our Take On Actuant Corporation's (NYSE:ATU) CEO Salary

Randy Baker became the CEO of Actuant Corporation (NYSE:ATU) in 2016. This report will, first, examine the CEO compensation levels in comparison to CEO compensation at companies of similar size. After that, we will consider the growth in the business. 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.

View our latest analysis for Actuant

How Does Randy Baker's Compensation Compare With Similar Sized Companies?

According to our data, Actuant Corporation has a market capitalization of US$1.4b, and pays its CEO total annual compensation worth US$4.7m. (This figure is for the year to August 2018). While this analysis focuses on total compensation, it's worth noting the salary is lower, valued at US$867k. We examined companies with market caps from US$1.0b to US$3.2b, and discovered that the median CEO total compensation of that group was US$4.1m.

So Randy Baker receives a similar amount to the median CEO pay, amongst 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 Actuant has changed over time.

Is Actuant Corporation Growing?

Actuant Corporation has increased its earnings per share (EPS) by an average of 24% a year, over the last three years (using a line of best fit). Revenue was pretty flat on last year.

This shows that the company has improved itself over the last few years. Good news for shareholders. It's also good to see modest revenue growth, suggesting the underlying business is healthy.

Has Actuant Corporation Been A Good Investment?

Given the total loss of 5.8% over three years, many shareholders in Actuant Corporation are probably rather dissatisfied, to say the least. It therefore might be upsetting for shareholders if the CEO were paid generously.

In Summary...

Randy Baker is paid around the same as most CEOs of similar size companies.

We'd say the company can boast of its EPS growth, but we find the returns over the last three years to be lacking. We'd be surprised if shareholders want to see a pay rise for the CEO, but we'd stop short of calling their pay too generous. CEO compensation is one thing, but it is also interesting to check if the CEO is buying or selling Actuant (free visualization of insider trades).

If you want to buy a stock that is better than Actuant, this free list of high return, low debt companies is a great place to look.

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.