Why We Think Bassett Furniture Industries, Incorporated's (NASDAQ:BSET) CEO Compensation Is Not Excessive At All

Performance at Bassett Furniture Industries, Incorporated (NASDAQ:BSET) has been reasonably good and CEO Rob Spilman 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 09 March 2022. We present our case of why we think CEO compensation looks fair.

View our latest analysis for Bassett Furniture Industries

Comparing Bassett Furniture Industries, Incorporated's CEO Compensation With the industry

At the time of writing, our data shows that Bassett Furniture Industries, Incorporated has a market capitalization of US$178m, and reported total annual CEO compensation of US$1.7m for the year to November 2021. We note that's an increase of 53% above last year. While we always look at total compensation first, our analysis shows that the salary component is less, at US$451k.

In comparison with other companies in the industry with market capitalizations ranging from US$100m to US$400m, the reported median CEO total compensation was US$1.9m. From this we gather that Rob Spilman is paid around the median for CEOs in the industry. What's more, Rob Spilman holds US$5.1m worth of shares in the company in their own name, indicating that they have a lot of skin in the game.

Component	2021	2020	Proportion (2021)
Salary	US$451k	US$369k	27%
Other	US$1.2m	US$714k	73%
Total Compensation	US$1.7m	US$1.1m	100%

Talking in terms of the industry, salary represented approximately 23% of total compensation out of all the companies we analyzed, while other remuneration made up 77% of the pie. It's interesting to note that Bassett Furniture Industries pays out a greater portion of remuneration through salary, compared to the industry. If non-salary compensation dominates total pay, it's an indicator that the executive's salary is tied to company performance.

A Look at Bassett Furniture Industries, Incorporated's Growth Numbers

Bassett Furniture Industries, Incorporated's earnings per share (EPS) grew 34% per year over the last three years. In the last year, its revenue is up 26%.

Overall this is a positive result for shareholders, showing that the company has improved in recent years. The combination of strong revenue growth with medium-term EPS improvement certainly points to the kind of growth we like to see. Looking ahead, you might want to check this free visual report on analyst forecasts for the company's future earnings..

Has Bassett Furniture Industries, Incorporated Been A Good Investment?

Bassett Furniture Industries, Incorporated has generated a total shareholder return of 12% over three years, so most shareholders would be reasonably content. But they would probably prefer not to see CEO compensation far in excess of the median.

In Summary...

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. However, we still think that any proposed increase in CEO compensation will be examined closely to make sure the compensation is appropriate and linked to performance.

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 2 warning signs for Bassett Furniture Industries that investors should look into moving forward.

Switching gears from Bassett Furniture Industries, if you're hunting for a pristine balance sheet and premium returns, this free list of high return, low debt companies is a great place to look.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. 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.