IDACORP, Inc.'s (NYSE:IDA) CEO Compensation Looks Acceptable To Us And Here's Why

Key Insights

• IDACORP will host its Annual General Meeting on 16th of May
• Total pay for CEO Lisa Grow includes US$920.0k salary
• The overall pay is comparable to the industry average
• IDACORP's total shareholder return over the past three years was 5.1% while its EPS grew by 1.1% over the past three years

Under the guidance of CEO Lisa Grow, IDACORP, Inc. (NYSE:IDA) has performed reasonably well recently. As shareholders go into the upcoming AGM on 16th of May, CEO compensation will probably not be their focus, but rather the steps management will take to continue the growth momentum. We present our case of why we think CEO compensation looks fair.

See our latest analysis for IDACORP

Comparing IDACORP, Inc.'s CEO Compensation With The Industry

Our data indicates that IDACORP, Inc. has a market capitalization of US$4.9b, and total annual CEO compensation was reported as US$7.4m for the year to December 2023. We note that's an increase of 66% above last year. We think total compensation is more important but our data shows that the CEO salary is lower, at US$920k.

On examining similar-sized companies in the American Electric Utilities industry with market capitalizations between US$4.0b and US$12b, we discovered that the median CEO total compensation of that group was US$7.4m. This suggests that IDACORP remunerates its CEO largely in line with the industry average. What's more, Lisa Grow holds US$4.8m worth of shares in the company in their own name, indicating that they have a lot of skin in the game.

Component	2023	2022	Proportion (2023)
Salary	US$920k	US$850k	12%
Other	US$6.5m	US$3.6m	88%
Total Compensation	US$7.4m	US$4.4m	100%

Talking in terms of the industry, salary represented approximately 11% of total compensation out of all the companies we analyzed, while other remuneration made up 89% of the pie. According to our research, IDACORP has allocated a higher percentage of pay to salary in comparison to the wider industry. If total compensation is slanted towards non-salary benefits, it indicates that CEO pay is linked to company performance.

IDACORP, Inc.'s Growth

Over the past three years, IDACORP, Inc. has seen its earnings per share (EPS) grow by 1.1% per year. In the last year, its revenue is up 3.3%.

We would argue that the improvement in revenue is good, but isn't particularly impressive, 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. Moving away from current form for a second, it could be important to check this free visual depiction of what analysts expect for the future.

Has IDACORP, Inc. Been A Good Investment?

IDACORP, Inc. has not done too badly by shareholders, with a total return of 5.1%, over three years. It would be nice to see that metric improve in the future. In light of that, investors might probably want to see an improvement on their returns before they feel generous about increasing the CEO remuneration.

To Conclude...

The company's decent performance might have made most shareholders happy, possibly making CEO remuneration the least of the concerns to be discussed in the upcoming AGM. In saying that, any proposed increase to CEO compensation will still be assessed on how reasonable it is based on performance and industry benchmarks.

It is always advisable to analyse CEO pay, along with performing a thorough analysis of the company's key performance areas. We identified 2 warning signs for IDACORP (1 is concerning!) that you should be aware of before investing here.

Important note: IDACORP is an exciting stock, but we understand investors may be looking for an unencumbered balance sheet and blockbuster returns. You might find something better in this list of interesting companies with high ROE and low debt.

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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.