Yahoo Finance Our Take On Corning Incorporated's (NYSE:GLW) CEO Salary
Wendell Weeks has been the CEO of Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) since 2005. First, this article will compare CEO compensation with compensation at other large companies. After that, we will consider the growth in the business. 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.
View our latest analysis for Corning
How Does Wendell Weeks's Compensation Compare With Similar Sized Companies?
At the time of writing our data says that Corning Incorporated has a market cap of US$22b, and is paying total annual CEO compensation of US$15m. (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$1.4m. We looked at a group of companies with market capitalizations over US$8.0b and the median CEO total compensation was US$11m. Once you start looking at very large companies, you need to take a broader range, because there simply aren't that many of them.
As you can see, Wendell Weeks is paid more than the median CEO pay at large companies, in the same market. However, this does not necessarily mean Corning Incorporated is paying too much. We can get a better idea of how generous the pay is by looking at the performance of the underlying business.
You can see, below, how CEO compensation at Corning has changed over time.
Is Corning Incorporated Growing?
Corning Incorporated has reduced its earnings per share by an average of 37% a year, over the last three years (measured with a line of best fit). In the last year, its revenue is up 12%.
Sadly for shareholders, earnings per share are actually down, over three years. And while it's good to see some good revenue growth recently, the growth isn't really fast enough for me to put aside my concerns around earnings. So given this relatively weak performance, shareholders would probably not want to see high compensation for the CEO. You might want to check this free visual report on analyst forecasts for future earnings.
Has Corning Incorporated Been A Good Investment?
Corning Incorporated has generated a total shareholder return of 31% over three years, so most shareholders would be reasonably content. But they probably wouldn't be so happy as to think the CEO should be paid more than is normal, for companies around this size.
In Summary...
We compared total CEO remuneration at Corning Incorporated with the amount paid at other large companies. Our data suggests that it pays above the median CEO pay within that group.
We think many shareholders would be underwhelmed with the business growth over the last three years.
And while shareholder returns have been respectable, they have hardly been superb. So we think more research is needed, but we don't think the CEO underpaid. CEO compensation is one thing, but it is also interesting to check if the CEO is buying or selling Corning (free visualization of insider trades).
If you want to buy a stock that is better than Corning, this free list of high return, low debt companies is a great place to look.
We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.
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.
