Key Insights

• MarineMax to hold its Annual General Meeting on 22nd of February
• CEO William McGill's total compensation includes salary of US$975.0k
• The overall pay is 39% above the industry average
• MarineMax's three-year loss to shareholders was 28% while its EPS was down 0.4% over the past three years

MarineMax, Inc. (NYSE:HZO) has not performed well recently and CEO William McGill will probably need to up their game. Shareholders will be interested in what the board will have to say about turning performance around at the next AGM on 22nd of February. This will be also be a chance where they can challenge the board on company direction and vote on resolutions such as executive remuneration. We present the case why we think CEO compensation is out of sync with company performance.

How Does Total Compensation For William McGill Compare With Other Companies In The Industry?

Our data indicates that MarineMax, Inc. has a market capitalization of US$714m, and total annual CEO compensation was reported as US$6.0m for the year to September 2023. Notably, that's an increase of 10% over the year before. While we always look at total compensation first, our analysis shows that the salary component is less, at US$975k.

On comparing similar companies from the American Specialty Retail industry with market caps ranging from US$400m to US$1.6b, we found that the median CEO total compensation was US$4.3m. Hence, we can conclude that William McGill is remunerated higher than the industry median. Furthermore, William McGill directly owns US$5.7m worth of shares in the company, implying that they are deeply invested in the company's success.

Talking in terms of the industry, salary represented approximately 18% of total compensation out of all the companies we analyzed, while other remuneration made up 82% of the pie. In MarineMax's case, non-salary compensation represents a greater slice of total remuneration, in comparison to the broader industry. It's important to note that a slant towards non-salary compensation suggests that total pay is tied to the company's performance.

MarineMax, Inc.'s Growth

Earnings per share at MarineMax, Inc. are much the same as they were three years ago, albeit slightly lower. It achieved revenue growth of 3.0% over the last year.

Its a bit disappointing to see that the company has failed to grow its EPS. And the modest revenue growth over 12 months isn't much comfort against the reduced EPS. So given this relatively weak performance, shareholders would probably not want to see high compensation for the CEO. 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 MarineMax, Inc. Been A Good Investment?

With a three year total loss of 28% for the shareholders, MarineMax, Inc. would certainly have some dissatisfied shareholders. Therefore, it might be upsetting for shareholders if the CEO were paid generously.

To Conclude...

Along with the business performing poorly, shareholders have suffered with poor share price returns on their investments, suggesting that there's little to no chance of them being in favor of a CEO pay raise. At the upcoming AGM, the board will get the chance to explain the steps it plans to take to improve business performance.

We can learn a lot about a company by studying its CEO compensation trends, along with looking at other aspects of the business. That's why we did our research, and identified 4 warning signs for MarineMax (of which 1 is concerning!) that you should know about in order to have a holistic understanding of the stock.

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.

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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.