Think Childcare Limited (ASX:TNK): 4 Days To Buy Before The Ex-Dividend Date

Important news for shareholders and potential investors in Think Childcare Limited (ASX:TNK): The dividend payment of AU$0.065 per share will be distributed to shareholders on 28 March 2019, and the stock will begin trading ex-dividend at an earlier date, 18 March 2019. Should you diversify into Think Childcare and boost your portfolio income stream? Well, keep on reading because today, I'm going to look at the latest data and analyze the stock and its dividend property in further detail.

Check out our latest analysis for Think Childcare

5 questions I ask before picking a dividend stock

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

• Is it paying an annual yield above 75% of dividend payers?
• Does it consistently pay out dividends without missing a payment of significantly cutting payout?
• 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 the company be able to keep paying dividend based on the future earnings growth?

How does Think Childcare fare?

Think Childcare has a trailing twelve-month payout ratio of 62%, meaning the dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. However, going forward, analysts expect TNK's payout to fall to 52% of its earnings. Assuming a constant share price, this equates to a dividend yield of around 5.5%. However, EPS should increase to A$0.14, meaning that the lower payout ratio does not necessarily implicate a lower dividend payment.

If you want to dive deeper into the sustainability of a certain payout ratio, you may wish to consider the cash flow of the business. A business with strong cash flow can sustain a higher divided payout ratio than a company with weak cash flow.

If there's one type of stock you want to be reliable, it's dividend stocks and their stable income-generating ability. The reality is that it is too early to consider Think Childcare as a dividend investment. It has only been consistently paying dividends for 3 years, however, standard practice for reliable payers is to look for a 10-year minimum track record.

In terms of its peers, Think Childcare generates a yield of 3.6%, which is high for Consumer Services stocks but still below the market's top dividend payers.

Next Steps:

If you are building an income portfolio, then Think Childcare is a complicated choice since it has some positive aspects as well as negative ones. However, if you are not strictly just a dividend investor, the stock could still offer some interesting investment opportunities. 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. Below, I've compiled three fundamental factors you should further examine:

1. Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for TNK’s future growth? Take a look at our free research report of analyst consensus for TNK’s outlook.
2. Valuation: What is TNK 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 TNK is currently mispriced by the market.
3. Dividend Rockstars: Are there better dividend payers with stronger fundamentals out there? Check out our free list of these great stocks here.

We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.

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. Thank you for reading.