How Does Wavestone's (EPA:WAVE) CEO Salary Compare to Peers?

Pascal Imbert has been the CEO of Wavestone SA (EPA:WAVE) since 2012, and this article will examine the executive's compensation with respect to the overall performance of the company. This analysis will also assess whether Wavestone pays its CEO appropriately, considering recent earnings growth and total shareholder returns.

See our latest analysis for Wavestone

Comparing Wavestone SA's CEO Compensation With the industry

According to our data, Wavestone SA has a market capitalization of €612m, and paid its CEO total annual compensation worth €199k over the year to March 2020. We note that's a decrease of 12% compared to last year. It is worth noting that the CEO compensation consists entirely of the salary, worth €199k.

On examining similar-sized companies in the industry with market capitalizations between €329m and €1.3b, we discovered that the median CEO total compensation of that group was €531k. Accordingly, Wavestone pays its CEO under the industry median. Furthermore, Pascal Imbert directly owns €178m worth of shares in the company, implying that they are deeply invested in the company's success.

On an industry level, around 64% of total compensation represents salary and 36% is other remuneration. On a company level, Wavestone prefers to reward its CEO through a salary, opting not to pay Pascal Imbert through non-salary benefits. If salary dominates total compensation, it suggests that CEO compensation is leaning less towards the variable component, which is usually linked with performance.

A Look at Wavestone SA's Growth Numbers

Wavestone SA has seen its earnings per share (EPS) increase by 10% a year over the past three years. Its revenue is up 2.7% over the last year.

This demonstrates that the company has been improving recently and is good news for the shareholders. It's good to see a bit of revenue growth, as this suggests the business is able to grow sustainably. Moving away from current form for a second, it could be important to check this free visual depiction of what analysts expect for the future.

Has Wavestone SA Been A Good Investment?

Given the total shareholder loss of 5.6% over three years, many shareholders in Wavestone SA are probably rather dissatisfied, to say the least. So shareholders would probably want the company to be lessto generous with CEO compensation.

To Conclude...

Wavestone rewards its CEO solely through a salary, ignoring non-salary benefits completely. As we touched on above, Wavestone SA is currently paying its CEO below the median pay for CEOs of companies belonging to the same industry and with similar market capitalizations. However we must not forget that the EPS growth has been very strong over three years. It's tough to criticize CEO compensation when the per-share EPS movement is positive. But shareholders will likely want to hold off on any raise for Pascal until investor returns are positive.

While CEO pay is an important factor to be aware of, there are other areas that investors should be mindful of as well. We did our research and spotted 1 warning sign for Wavestone that investors should look into moving forward.

Important note: Wavestone is an exciting stock, but we understand investors may be looking for an unencumbered balance sheet and blockbuster returns. You might find something better in this list of interesting companies with high ROE and low debt.

If you’re looking to trade Wavestone, open an account with the lowest-cost* platform trusted by professionals, Interactive Brokers. Their clients from over 200 countries and territories trade stocks, options, futures, forex, bonds and funds worldwide from a single integrated account. Promoted

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. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.
^*Interactive Brokers Rated Lowest Cost Broker by StockBrokers.com Annual Online Review 2020

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.