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Henri Poupart-Lafarge became the CEO of Alstom SA (EPA:ALO) in 2016. First, this article will compare CEO compensation with compensation at other large companies. After that, we will consider the growth in the business. And finally - as a second measure of performance - we will look at the returns shareholders have received over the last few years. This process should give us an idea about how appropriately the CEO is paid.

Check out our latest analysis for Alstom

How Does Henri Poupart-Lafarge's Compensation Compare With Similar Sized Companies?

Our data indicates that Alstom SA is worth €9.3b, and total annual CEO compensation is €3.1m. (This number is for the twelve months until March 2019). Notably, that's an increase of 8.2% over the year before. While this analysis focuses on total compensation, it's worth noting the salary is lower, valued at €750k. When we examined a group of companies with market caps over €7.1b, we found that their median CEO total compensation was €3.4m. Once you start looking at very large companies, you need to take a broader range, because there simply aren't that many of them.

So Henri Poupart-Lafarge is paid around the average of the companies we looked at. This doesn't tell us a whole lot on its own, but looking at the performance of the actual business will give us useful context.

You can see a visual representation of the CEO compensation at Alstom, below.

Is Alstom SA Growing?

Over the last three years Alstom SA has grown its earnings per share (EPS) by an average of 101% per year (using a line of best fit). It achieved revenue growth of 9.9% over the last year.

Overall this is a positive result for shareholders, showing that the company has improved in recent years. It's nice to see a little revenue growth, as this is consistent with healthy business conditions. It could be important to check this free visual depiction of what analysts expect for the future.

Has Alstom SA Been A Good Investment?

Most shareholders would probably be pleased with Alstom SA for providing a total return of 107% over three years. 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...

Henri Poupart-Lafarge is paid around the same as most CEOs of large companies.

Few would be critical of the leadership, since returns have been juicy and earnings per share are moving in the right direction. So one could argue the CEO compensation is quite modest, if you consider company performance! Shareholders may want to check for free if Alstom insiders are buying or selling shares.

Important note: Alstom 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.

We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.

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. Thank you for reading.