Yahoo Finance Molson Coors Canada (TSE:TPX.B) Is Increasing Its Dividend To $0.553
Molson Coors Canada Inc. (TSE:TPX.B) has announced that it will be increasing its dividend from last year's comparable payment on the 17th of March to $0.553. This makes the dividend yield about the same as the industry average at 2.7%.
Check out our latest analysis for Molson Coors Canada
Molson Coors Canada's Distributions May Be Difficult To Sustain
We like to see a healthy dividend yield, but that is only helpful to us if the payment can continue. While Molson Coors Canada is not profitable, it is paying out less than 75% of its free cash flow, which means that there is plenty left over for reinvestment into the business. In general, cash flows are more important than the more traditional measures of profit so we feel pretty comfortable with the dividend at this level.
Assuming the trend of the last few years continues, EPS will grow by 9.0% over the next 12 months. While it is good to see income moving in the right direction, it still looks like the company won't achieve profitability. However, the positive cash flow ratio gives us some comfort about the sustainability of the dividend.
Molson Coors Canada's Dividend Has Lacked Consistency
Even in its relatively short history, the company has reduced the dividend at least once. Due to this, we are a little bit cautious about the dividend consistency over a full economic cycle. Since 2014, the dividend has gone from $1.46 total annually to $1.46. Dividend payments have shrunk at a rate of less than 1% per annum over this time frame. Generally, we don't like to see a dividend that has been declining over time as this can degrade shareholders' returns and indicate that the company may be running into problems.
The Dividend Has Growth Potential
With a relatively unstable dividend, it's even more important to see if earnings per share is growing. We are encouraged to see that Molson Coors Canada has grown earnings per share at 9.0% per year over the past five years. It's not great that the company is not turning a profit, but the decent growth in recent years is certainly a positive sign. If the company can become profitable soon, continuing on this trajectory would bode well for the future of the dividend.
In Summary
Overall, we always like to see the dividend being raised, but we don't think Molson Coors Canada will make a great income stock. The payments haven't been particularly stable and we don't see huge growth potential, but with the dividend well covered by cash flows it could prove to be reliable over the short term. We would probably look elsewhere for an income investment.
Investors generally tend to favour companies with a consistent, stable dividend policy as opposed to those operating an irregular one. However, there are other things to consider for investors when analysing stock performance. For example, we've picked out 1 warning sign for Molson Coors Canada that investors should know about before committing capital to this stock. If you are a dividend investor, you might also want to look at our curated list of high yield dividend stocks.
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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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