Is Enel SpA (BIT:ENEL) A Great Dividend Stock?

A large part of investment returns can be generated by dividend-paying stock given their role in compounding returns over time. Historically, Enel SpA (BIT:ENEL) has paid a dividend to shareholders. It currently yields 5.7%. Let’s dig deeper into whether Enel should have a place in your portfolio.

See our latest analysis for Enel

5 questions to ask before buying a dividend stock

Whenever I am looking at a potential dividend stock investment, I always check these five metrics:

• Does it pay an annual yield higher than 75% of dividend payers?

• Has its dividend been stable over the past (i.e. no missed payments or significant payout cuts)?

• Has it increased its dividend per share amount over the past?

• Is is able to pay the current rate of dividends from its earnings?

• Will it be able to continue to payout at the current rate in the future?

BIT:ENEL Historical Dividend Yield September 26th 18

Does Enel pass our checks?

The company currently pays out 34.0% of its earnings as a dividend, according to its trailing twelve-month data, which means that the dividend is covered by earnings. Going forward, analysts expect ENEL’s payout to increase to 69.2% of its earnings, which leads to a dividend yield of 6.9%. Furthermore, EPS should increase to €0.43. The higher payout forecasted, along with higher earnings, should lead to greater dividend income for investors moving forward.

When thinking about whether a dividend is sustainable, another factor to consider is the cash flow. Companies with strong cash flow can sustain a higher payout ratio, while companies with weaker cash flow generally cannot.

If dividend is a key criteria in your investment consideration, then you need to make sure the dividend stock you’re eyeing out is reliable in its payments. Dividend payments from Enel have been volatile in the past 10 years, with some years experiencing significant drops of over 25%. These characteristics do not bode well for income investors seeking reliable stream of dividends.

Compared to its peers, Enel generates a yield of 5.7%, which is high for Electric Utilities stocks.

Next Steps:

With this in mind, I definitely rank Enel as a strong dividend stock, and makes it worth further research for anyone who likes steady income generation from their portfolio. Given that this is purely a dividend analysis, I recommend taking sufficient time to understand its core business and determine whether the company and its investment properties suit your overall goals. There are three fundamental factors you should look at:

1. Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for ENEL’s future growth? Take a look at our free research report of analyst consensus for ENEL’s outlook.

2. Valuation: What is ENEL worth today? Even if the stock is a cash cow, it’s not worth an infinite price. The intrinsic value infographic in our free research report helps visualize whether ENEL is currently mispriced by the market.

3. Other Dividend Rockstars: Are there better dividend payers with stronger fundamentals out there? Check out our free list of these great stocks here.

To help readers see past the short term volatility of the financial market, we aim to bring you a long-term focused research analysis purely driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis does not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements.

The author is an independent contributor and at the time of publication had no position in the stocks mentioned. For errors that warrant correction please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com.