Here's Why Peoples Financial Services Corp.'s (NASDAQ:PFIS) CEO Is Unlikely to Expect A Pay Rise This Year

Performance at Peoples Financial Services Corp. (NASDAQ:PFIS) has been reasonably good and CEO Craig Best has done a decent job of steering the company in the right direction. This is something shareholders will keep in mind as they cast their votes on company resolutions such as executive remuneration in the upcoming AGM on 15 May 2021. Based on our analysis of the data below, we think CEO compensation seems reasonable for now.

Check out our latest analysis for Peoples Financial Services

Comparing Peoples Financial Services Corp.'s CEO Compensation With the industry

At the time of writing, our data shows that Peoples Financial Services Corp. has a market capitalization of US$314m, and reported total annual CEO compensation of US$979k for the year to December 2020. Notably, that's an increase of 19% over the year before. While this analysis focuses on total compensation, it's worth acknowledging that the salary portion is lower, valued at US$440k.

On examining similar-sized companies in the industry with market capitalizations between US$200m and US$800m, we discovered that the median CEO total compensation of that group was US$1.1m. So it looks like Peoples Financial Services compensates Craig Best in line with the median for the industry. What's more, Craig Best holds US$1.2m worth of shares in the company in their own name.

Component	2020	2019	Proportion (2020)
Salary	US$440k	US$440k	45%
Other	US$540k	US$381k	55%
Total Compensation	US$979k	US$820k	100%

On an industry level, around 42% of total compensation represents salary and 58% is other remuneration. Our data reveals that Peoples Financial Services allocates salary more or less in line with the wider market. If non-salary compensation dominates total pay, it's an indicator that the executive's salary is tied to company performance.

Peoples Financial Services Corp.'s Growth

Over the past three years, Peoples Financial Services Corp. has seen its earnings per share (EPS) grow by 21% per year. It achieved revenue growth of 13% over the last year.

Overall this is a positive result for shareholders, showing that the company has improved in recent years. It's a real positive to see this sort of revenue growth in a single year. That suggests a healthy and growing business. Although we don't have analyst forecasts, you might want to assess this data-rich visualization of earnings, revenue and cash flow.

Has Peoples Financial Services Corp. Been A Good Investment?

Peoples Financial Services Corp. has generated a total shareholder return of 3.1% over three years, so most shareholders wouldn't be too disappointed. Although, there's always room to improve. As a result, investors in the company might be reluctant about agreeing to increase CEO pay in the future, before seeing an improvement on their returns.

To Conclude...

Given that the company's overall performance has been reasonable, the CEO remuneration policy might not be shareholders' central point of focus in the upcoming AGM. Despite the pleasing results, we still think that any proposed increases to CEO compensation will be examined based on a case by case basis and linked to performance outcomes.

CEO compensation is a crucial aspect to keep your eyes on but investors also need to keep their eyes open for other issues related to business performance. That's why we did some digging and identified 1 warning sign for Peoples Financial Services that you should be aware of before investing.

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.

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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.
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