This study employs the quantile regression model to examine the non-monotonic impact of CEO stock-based compensation on firm performance, using the data for U.S. non-financial firms from 1993 to 2005. The results indicate that while the impact of CEO stock-based pay on firm performance is positive for firms in the higher earnings quantile levels, the impact is negative for firms in the lower levels. In addition, the Furthermore, the quantile-varying pattern of the impact of stock-based compensation on firm performance is robust after controlling for the industrial and yearly effects. It is also robust to the use of the payfor-performance sensitivity as an alternative explanatory variable or the market-based
measure of performance as the dependent variable, or the consideration of the suspected endogenous problem between firm performance and stock-based compensation.