Should You Worry About Hampton Financial Corporation's (CVE:HFC) CEO Pay?

The CEO of Hampton Financial Corporation (CVE:HFC) is Peter Deeb. 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.

View our latest analysis for Hampton Financial

How Does Peter Deeb's Compensation Compare With Similar Sized Companies?

Our data indicates that Hampton Financial Corporation is worth CA$4.7m, and total annual CEO compensation was reported as CA$563k for the year to August 2019. It is worth noting that the CEO compensation consists almost entirely of the salary, worth CA$563k. We examined a group of similar sized companies, with market capitalizations of below CA$281m. The median CEO total compensation in that group is CA$225k.

Pay mix tells us a lot about how a company functions versus the wider industry, and it's no different in the case of Hampton Financial. Speaking on an industry level, we can see that nearly 50% of total compensation represents salary, while the remainder of 50% is other remuneration. According to our research, Hampton Financial has allocated a higher percentage of pay to salary in comparison to the broader sector.

Thus we can conclude that Peter Deeb receives more in total compensation than the median of a group of companies in the same market, and of similar size to Hampton Financial Corporation. However, this doesn't necessarily mean the pay is too high. A closer look at the performance of the underlying business will give us a better idea about whether the pay is particularly generous. You can see a visual representation of the CEO compensation at Hampton Financial, below.

Is Hampton Financial Corporation Growing?

Hampton Financial Corporation has seen earnings per share (EPS) move positively by an average of 15% a year, over the last three years (using a line of best fit). It saw its revenue drop 6.4% over the last year.

This demonstrates that the company has been improving recently. A good result. Revenue growth is a real positive for growth, but ultimately profits are more important. Although we don't have analyst forecasts you might want to assess this data-rich visualization of earnings, revenue and cash flow.

Has Hampton Financial Corporation Been A Good Investment?

Given the total loss of 74% over three years, many shareholders in Hampton Financial Corporation are probably rather dissatisfied, to say the least. So shareholders would probably think the company shouldn't be too generous with CEO compensation.

In Summary...

We examined the amount Hampton Financial Corporation pays its CEO, and compared it to the amount paid by similar sized companies. We found that it pays well over the median amount paid in the benchmark group.

However we must not forget that the EPS growth has been very strong over three years. However, the returns to investors are far less impressive, over the same period. One might thus conclude that it would be better if the company waited until growth is reflected in the share price, before increasing CEO compensation. CEO compensation is an important area to keep your eyes on, but we've also identified 4 warning signs for Hampton Financial (2 shouldn't be ignored!) that you should be aware of before investing here.

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.

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.

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