Savaria (TSE:SIS) Has Announced That It Will Be Increasing Its Dividend To CA$0.0433

Savaria Corporation's (TSE:SIS) dividend will be increasing from last year's payment of the same period to CA$0.0433 on 7th of October. This takes the dividend yield to 3.7%, which shareholders will be pleased with.

View our latest analysis for Savaria

Savaria's Dividend Is Well Covered By Earnings

If the payments aren't sustainable, a high yield for a few years won't matter that much. Before making this announcement, the company's dividend was much higher than its earnings. Without profits and cash flows increasing, it would be difficult for the company to continue paying the dividend at this level.

According to analysts, EPS should be several times higher next year. Assuming the dividend continues along recent trends, we estimate that the payout ratio could reach 59%, which is in a comfortable range for us.

Dividend Volatility

The company's dividend history has been marked by instability, with at least one cut in the last 10 years. Since 2012, the dividend has gone from CA$0.102 total annually to CA$0.52. This implies that the company grew its distributions at a yearly rate of about 18% over that duration. Despite the rapid growth in the dividend over the past number of years, we have seen the payments go down the past as well, so that makes us cautious.

Dividend Growth May Be Hard To Achieve

With a relatively unstable dividend, it's even more important to see if earnings per share is growing. Savaria has seen earnings per share falling at 3.7% per year over the last five years. Declining earnings will inevitably lead to the company paying a lower dividend in line with lower profits. However, the next year is actually looking up, with earnings set to rise. We would just wait until it becomes a pattern before getting too excited.

We're Not Big Fans Of Savaria's Dividend

In summary, investors will like to be receiving a higher dividend, but we have some questions about whether it can be sustained over the long term. The company's earnings aren't high enough to be making such big distributions, and it isn't backed up by strong growth or consistency either. Overall, this doesn't get us very excited from an income standpoint.

Investors generally tend to favour companies with a consistent, stable dividend policy as opposed to those operating an irregular one. Meanwhile, despite the importance of dividend payments, they are not the only factors our readers should know when assessing a company. Just as an example, we've come across 5 warning signs for Savaria you should be aware of, and 2 of them can't be ignored. 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.