Jay Schottenstein became the CEO of American Eagle Outfitters Inc (NYSE:AEO) in 2014. First, this article will compare CEO compensation with compensation at similar sized companies. Then we’ll look at a snap shot of the business growth. And finally we will reflect on how common stockholders have fared in the last few years, as a secondary measure of performance. The aim of all this is to consider the appropriateness of CEO pay levels.

Check out our latest analysis for American Eagle Outfitters

How Does Jay Schottenstein’s Compensation Compare With Similar Sized Companies?

At the time of writing our data says that American Eagle Outfitters Inc has a market cap of US$3.8b, and is paying total annual CEO compensation of US$6.5m. That’s actually a decrease on the year before. We looked at a group of companies with market capitalizations from US$2.0b to US$6.4b, and the median CEO compensation was US$5.0m.

It would therefore appear that American Eagle Outfitters Inc pays Jay Schottenstein more than the median CEO remuneration at companies of a similar size, in the same market. However, this fact alone doesn’t mean the remuneration 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 American Eagle Outfitters, below.

Is American Eagle Outfitters Inc Growing?

American Eagle Outfitters Inc has increased its earnings per share (EPS) by an average of 8.0% a year, over the last three years In the last year, its revenue is up 9.1%.

I’m not particularly impressed by the revenue growth, but I’m happy with the modest EPS growth. It’s clear the performance has been quite decent, but it it falls short of outstanding,based on this information.

It could be important to check this free visual depiction of what analysts expect for the future.

Has American Eagle Outfitters Inc Been A Good Investment?

I think that the total shareholder return of 59%, over three years, would leave most American Eagle Outfitters Inc shareholders smiling. As a result, some may believe the CEO should be paid more than is normal for companies of similar size.

In Summary…

We compared the total CEO remuneration paid by American Eagle Outfitters Inc, 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.

While we generally prefer to see stronger EPS growth, there’s no arguing with the strong returns to shareholders, over the last three years. As a result of the juicy return to investors, the CEO remuneration may well be quite reasonable. CEO compensation is one thing, but it is also interesting to check if the CEO is buying or selling American Eagle Outfitters Inc (free visualization of insider trades).

Or you could feast your eyes on this interactive graph depicting past earnings, cash flow 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.