Maple Leaf Foods (TSE:MFI) Has Affirmed Its Dividend Of CA$0.21

Maple Leaf Foods Inc.'s (TSE:MFI) investors are due to receive a payment of CA$0.21 per share on 30th of June. This makes the dividend yield 3.4%, which will augment investor returns quite nicely.

View our latest analysis for Maple Leaf Foods

Maple Leaf Foods Might Find It Hard To Continue The Dividend

While it is great to have a strong dividend yield, we should also consider whether the payment is sustainable. Even though Maple Leaf Foods is not generating a profit, it is still paying a dividend. It is also not generating any free cash flow, we definitely have concerns when it comes to the sustainability of the dividend.

Recent, EPS has fallen by 51.1%, so this could continue over the next year. This means the company will be unprofitable and managers could face the tough choice between continuing to pay the dividend or taking pressure off the balance sheet.

Maple Leaf Foods Has A Solid Track Record

The company has an extended history of paying stable dividends. The annual payment during the last 10 years was CA$0.16 in 2013, and the most recent fiscal year payment was CA$0.84. This means that it has been growing its distributions at 18% per annum over that time. So, dividends have been growing pretty quickly, and even more impressively, they haven't experienced any notable falls during this period.

The Dividend Has Limited Growth Potential

The company's investors will be pleased to have been receiving dividend income for some time. Let's not jump to conclusions as things might not be as good as they appear on the surface. Earnings per share has been sinking by 51% over the last five years. Such rapid declines definitely have the potential to constrain dividend payments if the trend continues into the future.

The Dividend Could Prove To Be Unreliable

Overall, it's nice to see a consistent dividend payment, but we think that longer term, the current level of payment might be unsustainable. In the past the payments have been stable, but we think the company is paying out too much for this to continue for the long term. We would be a touch cautious of relying on this stock primarily for the dividend income.

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. Just as an example, we've come across 3 warning signs for Maple Leaf Foods you should be aware of, and 2 of them are a bit unpleasant. Is Maple Leaf Foods not quite the opportunity you were looking for? Why not check out our selection of top dividend stocks.

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