Yahoo Finance Do Investors Have Good Reason To Be Wary Of Staatl. Mineralbrunnen AG's (MUN:SLB) 1.3% Dividend Yield?
Dividend paying stocks like Staatl. Mineralbrunnen AG (MUN:SLB) tend to be popular with investors, and for good reason - some research suggests a significant amount of all stock market returns come from reinvested dividends. Unfortunately, it's common for investors to be enticed in by the seemingly attractive yield, and lose money when the company has to cut its dividend payments.
Investors might not know much about Staatl. Mineralbrunnen's dividend prospects, even though it has been paying dividends for the last eight years and offers a 1.3% yield. While the yield may not look too great, the relatively long payment history is interesting. Some simple analysis can reduce the risk of holding Staatl. Mineralbrunnen for its dividend, and we'll focus on the most important aspects below.
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Payout ratios
Dividends are usually paid out of company earnings. If a company is paying more than it earns, then the dividend might become unsustainable - hardly an ideal situation. Comparing dividend payments to a company's net profit after tax is a simple way of reality-checking whether a dividend is sustainable. Staatl. Mineralbrunnen paid out 99% of its profit as dividends, over the trailing twelve month period. Its payout ratio is quite high, and the dividend is not well covered by earnings. If earnings are growing or the company has a large cash balance, this might be sustainable - still, we think it is a concern.
Consider getting our latest analysis on Staatl. Mineralbrunnen's financial position here.
Dividend Volatility
From the perspective of an income investor who wants to earn dividends for many years, there is not much point buying a stock if its dividend is regularly cut or is not reliable. Looking at the last decade of data, we can see that Staatl. Mineralbrunnen paid its first dividend at least eight years ago. The dividend has been quite stable over the past eight years, which is great to see - although we usually like to see the dividend maintained for a decade before giving it full marks, though. During the past eight-year period, the first annual payment was €0.75 in 2012, compared to €2.00 last year. Dividends per share have grown at approximately 13% per year over this time.
We're not overly excited about the relatively short history of dividend payments, however the dividend is growing at a nice rate and we might take a closer look.
Dividend Growth Potential
While dividend payments have been relatively reliable, it would also be nice if earnings per share (EPS) were growing, as this is essential to maintaining the dividend's purchasing power over the long term. Staatl. Mineralbrunnen's earnings per share have been essentially flat over the past five years. Over the long term, steady earnings per share is a risk as the value of the dividends can be reduced by inflation. Still, the company has struggled to grow its EPS, and currently pays out 99% of its earnings. As they say in finance, 'past performance is not indicative of future performance', but we are not confident a company with limited earnings growth and a high payout ratio will be a star dividend-payer over the next decade.
Conclusion
When we look at a dividend stock, we need to form a judgement on whether the dividend will grow, if the company is able to maintain it in a wide range of economic circumstances, and if the dividend payout is sustainable. Staatl. Mineralbrunnen is paying out a larger percentage of its profit than we're comfortable with. Second, the company has not been able to generate earnings growth, and its history of dividend payments is shorter than we consider ideal (from a reliability perspective). To conclude, we've spotted a couple of potential concerns with Staatl. Mineralbrunnen that may make it less than ideal candidate for dividend investors.
You can also discover whether shareholders are aligned with insider interests by checking our visualisation of insider shareholdings and trades in Staatl. Mineralbrunnen stock.
If you are a dividend investor, you might also want to look at our curated list of dividend stocks yielding above 3%.
If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. 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. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned.
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