Not all dividends are created equal. Here, we'll do a top-to-bottom analysis of a given company to understand the quality of its dividend and how that's changed over the past five years.
The company we're looking at today is Windstream (Nasdaq: WIN), which yields 8.1%.
Dividend
To evaluate the quality of a dividend, the first thing to consider is whether the company has paid a dividend consistently over the past five years, and, if so, how much has it grown.
Windstream's dividend has been stable at $0.25 per quarter for the past five years.
Immediate safety
To understand how safe a dividend is, we use a couple of crucial tools, the first of which is:
- The interest coverage ratio, or the number of times interest is earned, which is calculated by earnings before interest and taxes, divided by interest expense. The interest coverage ratio measures a company's ability to pay the interest on its debt. A ratio less than 1.5 is questionable; a number less than one means the company is not bringing in enough money to cover its interest expenses.
Windstream Corporation Times Interest Earned TTM Chart by YCharts
At 1.97 and declining, Windstream's interest coverage ratio is getting close to questionable.
Sustainability
The other tool we use to evaluate the safety of a dividend is:
- The FCF payout ratio, or dividends per share divided by free cash flow per share. Earnings alone don't always paint a complete picture of a business's health. The FCF payout ratio measures the percent of free cash flow devoted toward paying the dividend. Again, a ratio greater than 80% could be a red flag.
Source: S&P Capital IQ.
Windstream's payout ratio has been rising and now sits at the high level of 80%, investors should watch this number.
Another tool for better investing
Most investors don't keep tabs on their companies. That's a mistake. If you take the time to read past the headlines and crack a filing now and then, you're in a much better position to spot potential trouble early. We can help you keep tabs on your companies with My Watchlist, our free, personalized stock-tracking service.
- Add Windstream to My Watchlist.
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