Yahoo Finance Dividend Investors: Don't Be Too Quick To Buy Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) For Its Upcoming Dividend
It looks like Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) is about to go ex-dividend in the next two days. You can purchase shares before the 12th of May in order to receive the dividend, which the company will pay on the 28th of May.
Starbucks's next dividend payment will be US$0.45 per share. Last year, in total, the company distributed US$1.80 to shareholders. Looking at the last 12 months of distributions, Starbucks has a trailing yield of approximately 1.6% on its current stock price of $114.34. Dividends are an important source of income to many shareholders, but the health of the business is crucial to maintaining those dividends. As a result, readers should always check whether Starbucks has been able to grow its dividends, or if the dividend might be cut.
Check out our latest analysis for Starbucks
Dividends are usually paid out of company profits, so if a company pays out more than it earned then its dividend is usually at greater risk of being cut. An unusually high payout ratio of 207% of its profit suggests something is happening other than the usual distribution of profits to shareholders. That said, even highly profitable companies sometimes might not generate enough cash to pay the dividend, which is why we should always check if the dividend is covered by cash flow. It paid out 82% of its free cash flow as dividends, which is within usual limits but will limit the company's ability to lift the dividend if there's no growth.
It's good to see that while Starbucks's dividends were not covered by profits, at least they are affordable from a cash perspective. Still, if the company repeatedly paid a dividend greater than its profits, we'd be concerned. Very few companies are able to sustainably pay dividends larger than their reported earnings.
Click here to see the company's payout ratio, plus analyst estimates of its future dividends.
Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?
When earnings decline, dividend companies become much harder to analyse and own safely. If earnings fall far enough, the company could be forced to cut its dividend. Readers will understand then, why we're concerned to see Starbucks's earnings per share have dropped 14% a year over the past five years. When earnings per share fall, the maximum amount of dividends that can be paid also falls.
Many investors will assess a company's dividend performance by evaluating how much the dividend payments have changed over time. Starbucks has delivered 21% dividend growth per year on average over the past 10 years. The only way to pay higher dividends when earnings are shrinking is either to pay out a larger percentage of profits, spend cash from the balance sheet, or borrow the money. Starbucks is already paying out 207% of its profits, and with shrinking earnings we think it's unlikely that this dividend will grow quickly in the future.
To Sum It Up
Is Starbucks worth buying for its dividend? It's never fun to see a company's earnings per share in retreat. Worse, Starbucks's paying out a majority of its earnings and more than half its free cash flow. Positive cash flows are good news but it's not a good combination. With the way things are shaping up from a dividend perspective, we'd be inclined to steer clear of Starbucks.
Having said that, if you're looking at this stock without much concern for the dividend, you should still be familiar of the risks involved with Starbucks. For example, Starbucks has 5 warning signs (and 1 which is concerning) we think you should know about.
We wouldn't recommend just buying the first dividend stock you see, though. Here's a list of interesting dividend stocks with a greater than 2% yield and an upcoming dividend.
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. 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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