Is Quarterhill Inc (TSE:QTRH) A Smart Choice For Dividend Investors?

Dividends play a key role in compounding returns over time and can form a large part of our portfolio return. Historically, Quarterhill Inc (TSE:QTRH) has been paying a dividend to shareholders. Today it yields 2.9%. Let's dig deeper into whether Quarterhill should have a place in your portfolio.

See our latest analysis for Quarterhill

5 questions to ask before buying a dividend stock

When assessing a stock as a potential addition to my dividend Portfolio, I look at these five areas:

• Does it pay an annual yield higher than 75% of dividend payers?
• Has it consistently paid a stable dividend without missing a payment or drastically cutting payout?
• Has the amount of dividend per share grown over the past?
• Is its earnings sufficient to payout dividend at the current rate?
• Will the company be able to keep paying dividend based on the future earnings growth?

How well does Quarterhill fit our criteria?

Quarterhill has a negative payout ratio, meaning that the company is not yet profitable and is paying dividend by dipping into its retained earnings.

When thinking about whether a dividend is sustainable, another factor to consider is the cash flow. Companies with strong cash flow can sustain a higher payout ratio, while companies with weaker cash flow generally cannot.

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 Quarterhill as a dividend investment. It has only been consistently paying dividends for 9 years, however, standard practice for reliable payers is to look for a 10-year minimum track record.

In terms of its peers, Quarterhill has a yield of 2.9%, which is high for Communications stocks but still below the market's top dividend payers.

Next Steps:

Now you know to keep in mind the reason why investors should be careful investing in Quarterhill for the dividend. But if you are not exclusively a dividend investor, the stock could still be an interesting investment opportunity. Given that this is purely a dividend analysis, I urge potential investors to try and get a good understanding of the underlying business and its fundamentals before deciding on an investment. I've put together three relevant aspects you should look at:

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