Should You Buy Newcrest Mining Limited (ASX:NCM) For Its 1.4% Dividend?

Dividends can be underrated but they form a large part of investment returns, playing an important role in compounding returns in the long run. Historically, Newcrest Mining Limited (ASX:NCM) has paid dividends to shareholders, and these days it yields 1.4%. Should it have a place in your portfolio? Let's take a look at Newcrest Mining in more detail.

See our latest analysis for Newcrest Mining

5 checks you should do on a dividend stock

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

• Is its annual yield among the top 25% of dividend-paying companies?
• Has it paid dividend every year without dramatically reducing payout in the past?
• Has dividend per share amount increased over the past?
• Is its earnings sufficient to payout dividend at the current rate?
• Will it be able to continue to payout at the current rate in the future?

How well does Newcrest Mining fit our criteria?

Newcrest Mining has a trailing twelve-month payout ratio of 70%, which means that the dividend is covered by earnings. In the near future, analysts are predicting lower payout ratio of 26% which, assuming the share price stays the same, leads to a dividend yield of around 1.3%. However, EPS should increase to $0.66, meaning that the lower payout ratio does not necessarily implicate a lower dividend payment.

When assessing the forecast sustainability of a dividend it is also worth considering the cash flow of the business. A company with strong cash flow, relative to earnings, can sometimes sustain a high pay out ratio.

If there is one thing that you want to be reliable in your life, it's dividend stocks and their constant income stream. Not only have dividend payouts from Newcrest Mining fallen over the past 10 years, it has also been highly volatile during this time, with drops of over 25% in some years. This means that dividend hunters should probably steer clear of the stock, at least for now until the track record improves.

Relative to peers, Newcrest Mining produces a yield of 1.4%, which is on the low-side for Metals and Mining stocks.

Next Steps:

After digging a little deeper into Newcrest Mining's yield, it's easy to see why you should be cautious investing in the company just for the dividend. On the other hand, if you are not strictly just a dividend investor, the stock could still be offering some interesting investment opportunities. Given that this is purely a dividend analysis, you should always research extensively before deciding whether or not a stock is an appropriate investment for you. I always recommend analysing the company's fundamentals and underlying business before making an investment decision. Below, I've compiled three important factors you should further examine:

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

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.

Simply Wall St analyst Simply Wall St and Simply Wall St have no position in any of the companies mentioned. This article 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.