What Did MagnaChip Semiconductor Corporation's (NYSE:MX) CEO Take Home Last Year?

In 2015 YJ Kim was appointed CEO of MagnaChip Semiconductor Corporation (NYSE:MX). First, this article will compare CEO compensation with compensation at similar sized companies. Next, we'll consider growth that the business demonstrates. 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 MagnaChip Semiconductor

How Does YJ Kim's Compensation Compare With Similar Sized Companies?

According to our data, MagnaChip Semiconductor Corporation has a market capitalization of US$512m, and paid its CEO total annual compensation worth US$2.9m over the year to December 2018. While this analysis focuses on total compensation, it's worth noting the salary is lower, valued at US$558k. We further remind readers that the CEO may face performance requirements to receive the non-salary part of the total compensation. As part of our analysis we looked at companies in the same jurisdiction, with market capitalizations of US$200m to US$800m. The median total CEO compensation was US$1.7m.

As you can see, YJ Kim is paid more than the median CEO pay at companies of a similar size, in the same market. However, this does not necessarily mean MagnaChip Semiconductor Corporation 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 a visual representation of the CEO compensation at MagnaChip Semiconductor, below.

Is MagnaChip Semiconductor Corporation Growing?

MagnaChip Semiconductor Corporation has reduced its earnings per share by an average of 50% a year, over the last three years (measured with a line of best fit). It achieved revenue growth of 3.4% over the last year.

Few shareholders would be pleased to read that earnings per share are lower over three years. The fairly low revenue growth fails to impress given that the earnings per share is down. So given this relatively weak performance, shareholders would probably not want to see high compensation for the CEO. It could be important to check this free visual depiction of what analysts expect for the future.

Has MagnaChip Semiconductor Corporation Been A Good Investment?

I think that the total shareholder return of 100%, over three years, would leave most MagnaChip Semiconductor Corporation shareholders smiling. This strong performance might mean some shareholders don't mind if the CEO were to be paid more than is normal for a company of its size.

In Summary...

We compared the total CEO remuneration paid by MagnaChip Semiconductor Corporation, and compared it to remuneration at a group of similar sized companies. We found that it pays well over the median amount paid in the benchmark group.

Neither earnings per share nor revenue have been growing sufficiently to impress us, over the last three years. But clearly there are some positives, because investors have done well over the same time frame. Considering this, shareholders are probably not too worried about the CEO compensation. If you think CEO compensation levels are interesting you will probably really like this free visualization of insider trading at MagnaChip Semiconductor.

Important note: MagnaChip Semiconductor 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.

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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