Peaking Through the Proxies: 3rd Annual Study of Multi-Industry Incentives

Research evidence excerpt

Peaking Through the Proxies: 3rd Annual Study of Multi-Industry Incentives

Electrical Equipment & Multi-Industry

Distributors - Market Underweight

Industrial Technology - Market Weight

Multi-Industry - Market Weight

Peaking Through the Proxies: 3rd Annual Study of Multi- June 24, 2026

Industry Incentives

The Wolfe Byte

Our 3nd annual proxy note dissects compensation drivers and variances within the coverage and vs. the S&P 500.

We also note key metric changes Y/Y; ESG is less important. We highlight VRT, WCC, NVT, VNT, and PNR as having

delivered stock returns in excess of LT comp.

The median CEO in our coverage made $14m last year (up 19% Y/Y largely due to the equity portion; with 26% in

cash vs. 29% in 2024). The companies in our coverage generally have shareholder-friendly compensation packages, as

81% of companies received >90% shareholder approval vs. 70% last year and 78% of S&P 500 companies with >90%

approval. Performance-based awards (PSUs) account for 50% of targeted long-term incentive comp for our coverage,

with stock price the primary metric that matters, followed by returns, EPS, and revenue. As it relates to short-term

incentive comp, the most important metrics are cash flow, revenue, and performance multipliers.

Roughly 55% of our coverage made a change to their compensation plan this year (vs. 50% in 2023). There were 12

companies with changes to the STIC methodology or weighting and 14 companies with changes to LTIC. As it relates

to modifiers, there were four companies that reduced or eliminated the importance of ESG as a multiplier, while PNR

added a sustainability multiplier. DOV, ITW, and WCC added some type of strategic objective metric into the incentive

compensation calculations.