Should You Be Pleased About The CEO Pay At GP Strategies Corporation's (NYSE:GPX)

Scott Greenberg became the CEO of GP Strategies Corporation (NYSE:GPX) in 2005. First, this article will compare CEO compensation with compensation at similar sized companies. Then we'll look at a snap shot of the business growth. And finally we will reflect on how common stockholders have fared in the last few years, as a secondary measure of performance. The aim of all this is to consider the appropriateness of CEO pay levels.

View our latest analysis for GP Strategies

How Does Scott Greenberg's Compensation Compare With Similar Sized Companies?

According to our data, GP Strategies Corporation has a market capitalization of US$223m, and paid its CEO total annual compensation worth US$1.1m over the year to December 2018. While we always look at total compensation first, we note that the salary component is less, at US$560k. As part of our analysis we looked at companies in the same jurisdiction, with market capitalizations of US$100m to US$400m. The median total CEO compensation was US$1.1m.

So Scott Greenberg is paid around the average of the companies we looked at. While this data point isn't particularly informative alone, it gains more meaning when considered with business performance.

The graphic below shows how CEO compensation at GP Strategies has changed from year to year.

Is GP Strategies Corporation Growing?

GP Strategies Corporation has reduced its earnings per share by an average of 42% a year, over the last three years (measured with a line of best fit). Its revenue is up 9.1% over last year.

Sadly for shareholders, earnings per share are actually down, over three years. The modest increase in revenue in the last year isn't enough to make me overlook the disappointing change in earnings per share. These factors suggest that the business performance wouldn't really justify a high pay packet for the CEO. You might want to check this free visual report on analyst forecasts for future earnings.

Has GP Strategies Corporation Been A Good Investment?

With a three year total loss of 49%, GP Strategies Corporation would certainly have some dissatisfied shareholders. So shareholders would probably think the company shouldn't be too generous with CEO compensation.

In Summary...

Scott Greenberg is paid around what is normal the leaders of comparable size companies.

After looking at EPS and total shareholder returns, it's certainly hard to argue the company has performed well, since both metrics are down. Most would consider it prudent for the company to hold off any CEO pay rise until performance improves. Whatever your view on compensation, you might want to check if insiders are buying or selling GP Strategies shares (free trial).

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.

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