Yahoo Finance Class (ASX:CL1) Has Affirmed Its Dividend Of AU$0.025
Class Limited's (ASX:CL1) investors are due to receive a payment of AU$0.025 per share on 23rd of September. Based on this payment, the dividend yield on the company's stock will be 2.8%, which is an attractive boost to shareholder returns.
See our latest analysis for Class
Class Doesn't Earn Enough To Cover Its Payments
While it is great to have a strong dividend yield, we should also consider whether the payment is sustainable. Before this announcement, Class was paying out 87% of earnings, but a comparatively small 73% of free cash flows. This leaves plenty of cash for reinvestment into the business.
EPS is set to fall by 12.8% over the next 12 months. If the dividend continues along the path it has been on recently, the payout ratio in 12 months could be 113%, which is definitely a bit high to be sustainable going forward.
Class' Dividend Has Lacked Consistency
Looking back, Class' dividend hasn't been particularly consistent. Due to this, we are a little bit cautious about the dividend consistency over a full economic cycle. Since 2015, the first annual payment was AU$0.04, compared to the most recent full-year payment of AU$0.05. This means that it has been growing its distributions at 3.8% per annum over that time. It's encouraging to see some dividend growth, but the dividend has been cut at least once, and the size of the cut would eliminate most of the growth anyway, which makes this less attractive as an income investment.
We Could See Class' Dividend Growing
Given that the dividend has been cut in the past, we need to check if earnings are growing and if that might lead to stronger dividends in the future. Class has seen EPS rising for the last five years, at 7.6% per annum. The payout ratio is very much on the higher end, which could mean that the growth rate will slow down in the future, and that could flow through to the dividend as well.
In Summary
Overall, it's nice to see a consistent dividend payment, but we think that longer term, the current level of payment might be unsustainable. The company is generating plenty of cash, which could maintain the dividend for a while, but the track record hasn't been great. We don't think Class is a great stock to add to your portfolio if income is your focus.
Investors generally tend to favour companies with a consistent, stable dividend policy as opposed to those operating an irregular one. Meanwhile, despite the importance of dividend payments, they are not the only factors our readers should know when assessing a company. For example, we've picked out 1 warning sign for Class that investors should know about before committing capital to this stock. Looking for more high-yielding dividend ideas? Try our curated list of strong dividend payers.
This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.
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