Regular readers will know that we love our dividends at Simply Wall St, which is why it’s exciting to see Piscines Desjoyaux SA (EPA:ALPDX) is about to trade ex-dividend in the next 3 days. Ex-dividend means that investors that purchase the stock on or after the 13th of February will not receive this dividend, which will be paid on the 17th of February.
Piscines Desjoyaux’s next dividend payment will be €0.51 per share, on the back of last year when the company paid a total of €0.51 to shareholders. Looking at the last 12 months of distributions, Piscines Desjoyaux has a trailing yield of approximately 3.4% on its current stock price of €15. We love seeing companies pay a dividend, but it’s also important to be sure that laying the golden eggs isn’t going to kill our golden goose! So we need to investigate whether Piscines Desjoyaux can afford its dividend, and if the dividend could grow.
See our latest analysis for Piscines Desjoyaux
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. That’s why it’s good to see Piscines Desjoyaux paying out a modest 47% of its earnings. Yet cash flow is typically more important than profit for assessing dividend sustainability, so we should always check if the company generated enough cash to afford its dividend. Thankfully its dividend payments took up just 31% of the free cash flow it generated, which is a comfortable payout ratio.
It’s encouraging to see that the dividend is covered by both profit and cash flow. This generally suggests the dividend is sustainable, as long as earnings don’t drop precipitously.
Click here to see how much of its profit Piscines Desjoyaux paid out over the last 12 months.
Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?
Businesses with strong growth prospects usually make the best dividend payers, because it’s easier to grow dividends when earnings per share are improving. If earnings decline and the company is forced to cut its dividend, investors could watch the value of their investment go up in smoke. That’s why it’s comforting to see Piscines Desjoyaux’s earnings have been skyrocketing, up 23% per annum for the past five years. Earnings per share have been growing very quickly, and the company is paying out a relatively low percentage of its profit and cash flow. Companies with growing earnings and low payout ratios are often the best long-term dividend stocks, as the company can both grow its earnings and increase the percentage of earnings that it pays out, essentially multiplying the dividend.
Another key way to measure a company’s dividend prospects is by measuring its historical rate of dividend growth. In the past ten years, Piscines Desjoyaux has increased its dividend at approximately 4.1% a year on average. It’s good to see both earnings and the dividend have improved – although the former has been rising much quicker than the latter, possibly due to the company reinvesting more of its profits in growth.
Final Takeaway
Is Piscines Desjoyaux an attractive dividend stock, or better left on the shelf? Piscines Desjoyaux has been growing earnings at a rapid rate, and has a conservatively low payout ratio, implying that it is reinvesting heavily in its business; a sterling combination. There’s a lot to like about Piscines Desjoyaux, and we would prioritise taking a closer look at it.
Want to learn more about Piscines Desjoyaux? Here’s a visualisation of its historical rate of revenue and earnings growth.
If you’re in the market for dividend stocks, we recommend checking our list of top dividend stocks with a greater than 2% yield and an upcoming dividend.
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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