Is Bruker Corporation (NASDAQ:BRKR) Overpaying Its CEO?

Frank Laukien has been the CEO of Bruker Corporation (NASDAQ:BRKR) since 1991. 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.

See our latest analysis for Bruker

How Does Frank Laukien's Compensation Compare With Similar Sized Companies?

At the time of writing our data says that Bruker Corporation has a market cap of US$6.0b, and is paying total annual CEO compensation of US$4.9m. (This figure is for the year to December 2017). While this analysis focuses on total compensation, it's worth noting the salary is lower, valued at US$704k. When we examined a selection of companies with market caps ranging from US$4.0b to US$12b, we found the median CEO total compensation was US$6.4m.

That means Frank Laukien receives fairly typical remuneration for the CEO of a company that size. Although this fact alone doesn't tell us a great deal, it becomes more relevant when considered against the business performance.

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

Is Bruker Corporation Growing?

Bruker Corporation has increased its earnings per share (EPS) by an average of 1.5% a year, over the last three years (using a line of best fit). It achieved revenue growth of 7.3% over the last year.

I'm not particularly impressed by the revenue growth, but it is good to see modest EPS growth. It's clear the performance has been quite decent, but it it falls short of outstanding,based on this information. You might want to check this free visual report on analyst forecasts for future earnings.

Has Bruker Corporation Been A Good Investment?

Boasting a total shareholder return of 41% over three years, Bruker Corporation has done well by shareholders. This strong performance might mean some shareholders don't mind if the CEO were to be paid more than is normal for a company of its size.

In Summary...

Remuneration for Frank Laukien is close enough to the median pay for a CEO of a similar sized company .

While the growth could be better, the shareholder returns are clearly good. So we can conclude that on this analysis the CEO compensation seems pretty sound. So you may want to check if insiders are buying Bruker shares with their own money (free access).

Important note: Bruker may not be the best stock to buy. You might find something better in this list of interesting companies with high ROE and low debt.

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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.