In 2013 Steven Bronson was appointed CEO of Qualstar Corporation (NASDAQ:QBAK). First, this article will compare CEO compensation with compensation at similar sized companies. Next, we’ll consider growth that the business demonstrates. Third, we’ll reflect on the total return to shareholders over three years, as a second measure of business performance. The aim of all this is to consider the appropriateness of CEO pay levels.
Check out our latest analysis for Qualstar
How Does Steven Bronson’s Compensation Compare With Similar Sized Companies?
According to our data, Qualstar Corporation has a market capitalization of US$9.8m, and pays its CEO total annual compensation worth US$342k. (This number is for the twelve months until December 2018). We think total compensation is more important but we note that the CEO salary is lower, at US$200k. We looked at a group of companies with market capitalizations under US$200m, and the median CEO total compensation was US$481k.
So Steven Bronson receives a similar amount to the median CEO pay, amongst the companies we looked at. While this data point isn’t particularly informative alone, it gains more meaning when considered with business performance.
You can see a visual representation of the CEO compensation at Qualstar, below.
Is Qualstar Corporation Growing?
On average over the last three years, Qualstar Corporation has grown earnings per share (EPS) by 114% each year (using a line of best fit). Its revenue is up 9.1% over last year.
This demonstrates that the company has been improving recently. A good result. It’s good to see a bit of revenue growth, as this suggests the business is able to grow sustainably.
Has Qualstar Corporation Been A Good Investment?
Qualstar Corporation has generated a total shareholder return of 14% over three years, so most shareholders would be reasonably content. But they probably don’t want to see the CEO paid more than is normal for companies around the same size.
In Summary…
Steven Bronson is paid around the same as most CEOs of similar size companies.
Shareholder returns could be better but shareholders would be pleased with the positive EPS growth. So upon reflection one could argue that the CEO pay is quite reasonable. Whatever your view on compensation, you might want to check if insiders are buying or selling Qualstar shares (free trial).
Important note: Qualstar 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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