In This Article:
In 2007 Tom Pickens was appointed CEO of Astrotech Corporation (NASDAQ:ASTC). 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. Third, we'll reflect on the total return to shareholders over three years, as a second measure of business performance. This method should give us information to assess how appropriately the company pays the CEO.
Check out our latest analysis for Astrotech
How Does Tom Pickens's Compensation Compare With Similar Sized Companies?
At the time of writing our data says that Astrotech Corporation has a market cap of US$12m, and is paying total annual CEO compensation of US$497k. (This number is for the twelve months until June 2018). While we always look at total compensation first, we note that the salary component is less, at US$472k. We looked at a group of companies with market capitalizations under US$200m, and the median CEO total compensation was US$498k.
So Tom Pickens is paid around the average of the companies we looked at. Although this fact alone doesn't tell us a great deal, it becomes more relevant when considered against the business performance.
The graphic below shows how CEO compensation at Astrotech has changed from year to year.
Is Astrotech Corporation Growing?
Astrotech Corporation has increased its earnings per share (EPS) by an average of 8.3% a year, over the last three years (using a line of best fit). In the last year, its revenue is down -80%.
I generally like to see a little revenue growth, but I'm happy with the EPS growth. These two metric are moving in different directions, so while it's hard to be confident judging performance, we think the stock is worth watching. We don't have analyst forecasts, but shareholders might want to examine this detailed historical graph of earnings, revenue and cash flow.
Has Astrotech Corporation Been A Good Investment?
Since shareholders would have lost about 77% over three years, some Astrotech Corporation shareholders would surely be feeling negative emotions. It therefore might be upsetting for shareholders if the CEO were paid generously.
In Summary...
Tom Pickens is paid around the same as most CEOs of similar size companies.
The per share growth could be better, in our view. And shareholder returns have been disappointing over the last three years. So many would argue that the CEO is certainly not underpaid. If you think CEO compensation levels are interesting you will probably really like this free visualization of insider trading at Astrotech.