David Wolfin became the CEO of Avino Silver & Gold Mines Ltd. (TSE:ASM) in 2010. This report will, first, examine the CEO compensation levels in comparison to CEO compensation at companies of similar size. Next, we’ll consider growth that the business demonstrates. And finally – as a second measure of performance – we will look at the returns shareholders have received over the last few years. This method should give us information to assess how appropriately the company pays the CEO.

Check out our latest analysis for Avino Silver & Gold Mines

How Does David Wolfin’s Compensation Compare With Similar Sized Companies?

According to our data, Avino Silver & Gold Mines Ltd. has a market capitalization of CA$44m, and pays its CEO total annual compensation worth US$733k. (This number is for the twelve months until 2017). We think total compensation is more important but we note that the CEO salary is lower, at US$231k. We took a group of companies with market capitalizations below US$200m, and calculated the median CEO compensation to be US$118k.

As you can see, David Wolfin is paid more than the median CEO pay at companies of a similar size, in the same market. However, this does not necessarily mean Avino Silver & Gold Mines Ltd. is paying too much. We can better assess whether the pay is overly generous by looking into the underlying business performance.

You can see a visual representation of the CEO compensation at Avino Silver & Gold Mines, below.

Is Avino Silver & Gold Mines Ltd. Growing?

On average over the last three years, Avino Silver & Gold Mines Ltd. has grown earnings per share (EPS) by 52% each year. Its revenue is up 3.6% over last year.

This demonstrates that the company has been improving recently. A good result. It’s nice to see a little revenue growth, as this is consistent with healthy business conditions.

You might want to check this free visual report on analyst forecasts for future earnings.

Has Avino Silver & Gold Mines Ltd. Been A Good Investment?

Given the total loss of 42% over three years, many shareholders in Avino Silver & Gold Mines Ltd. 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 compared total CEO remuneration at Avino Silver & Gold Mines Ltd. with the amount paid at companies with a similar market capitalization. We found that it pays well over the median amount paid in the benchmark group.

Importantly, though, the company has impressed with its earnings per share growth, over three years. However, the returns to investors are far less impressive, over the same period. While EPS is positive, we’d say shareholders would want better returns before the CEO is paid much more. Whatever your view on compensation, you might want to check if insiders are buying or selling Avino Silver & Gold Mines shares (free trial).

Or you might prefer examine intently this intuitive graph showing past earnings and revenue.

To help readers see past the short term volatility of the financial market, we aim to bring you a long-term focused research analysis purely driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis does not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements.

The author is an independent contributor and at the time of publication had no position in the stocks mentioned. For errors that warrant correction please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com.