Why We Think Shareholders May Be Considering Bumping Up ImmuCell Corporation's (NASDAQ:ICCC) CEO Compensation

The impressive results at ImmuCell Corporation (NASDAQ:ICCC) recently will be great news for shareholders. This would be kept in mind at the upcoming AGM on 16 June 2021 which will be a chance for them to hear the board review the financial results, discuss future company strategy and vote on resolutions such as executive remuneration and other matters. Here we will show why we think CEO compensation is appropriate and discuss the case for a pay rise.

Check out our latest analysis for ImmuCell

Comparing ImmuCell Corporation's CEO Compensation With the industry

According to our data, ImmuCell Corporation has a market capitalization of US$75m, and paid its CEO total annual compensation worth US$354k over the year to December 2020. This means that the compensation hasn't changed much from last year. Notably, the salary which is US$324.9k, represents most of the total compensation being paid.

For comparison, other companies in the industry with market capitalizations below US$200m, reported a median total CEO compensation of US$1.1m. This suggests that Michael Brigham is paid below the industry median. Moreover, Michael Brigham also holds US$2.1m worth of ImmuCell stock directly under their own name, which reveals to us that they have a significant personal stake in the company.

Component	2020	2019	Proportion (2020)
Salary	US$325k	US$315k	92%
Other	US$29k	US$29k	8%
Total Compensation	US$354k	US$344k	100%

On an industry level, roughly 20% of total compensation represents salary and 80% is other remuneration. ImmuCell pays out 92% of remuneration in the form of a salary, significantly higher than the industry average. If salary is the major component in total compensation, it suggests that the CEO receives a higher fixed proportion of the total compensation, regardless of performance.

ImmuCell Corporation's Growth

ImmuCell Corporation has seen its earnings per share (EPS) increase by 17% a year over the past three years. In the last year, its revenue is up 2.2%.

This demonstrates that the company has been improving recently and is good news for the shareholders. It's nice to see revenue heading northwards, as this is consistent with healthy business conditions. While we don't have analyst forecasts for the company, shareholders might want to examine this detailed historical graph of earnings, revenue and cash flow.

Has ImmuCell Corporation Been A Good Investment?

We think that the total shareholder return of 42%, over three years, would leave most ImmuCell Corporation shareholders smiling. 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.

To Conclude...

Some shareholders will probably be more lenient on CEO compensation in the upcoming AGM given the pleasing performance of the company recently. Seeing that earnings growth and share price performance seems to be on the right path, the more pressing focus for shareholders at the AGM may be how the board and management plans to turn the company into a sustainably profitable one.

CEO compensation is an important area to keep your eyes on, but we've also need to pay attention to other attributes of the company. We did our research and identified 3 warning signs (and 1 which is a bit concerning) in ImmuCell we think you should know about.

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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