Just Four Days Till Winox Holdings Limited (HKG:6838) Will Be Trading Ex-Dividend

Winox Holdings Limited (HKG:6838) is about to trade ex-dividend in the next 4 days. Typically, the ex-dividend date is one business day before the record date which is the date on which a company determines the shareholders eligible to receive a dividend. The ex-dividend date is of consequence because whenever a stock is bought or sold, the trade takes at least two business day to settle. Meaning, you will need to purchase Winox Holdings' shares before the 10th of September to receive the dividend, which will be paid on the 4th of October.

The company's next dividend payment will be HK$0.005 per share, on the back of last year when the company paid a total of HK$0.025 to shareholders. Based on the last year's worth of payments, Winox Holdings has a trailing yield of 5.1% on the current stock price of HK$0.495. We love seeing companies pay a dividend, but it's also important to be sure that laying the golden eggs isn't going to kill our golden goose! So we need to check whether the dividend payments are covered, and if earnings are growing.

Check out our latest analysis for Winox Holdings

Dividends are typically paid from company earnings. If a company pays more in dividends than it earned in profit, then the dividend could be unsustainable. That's why it's good to see Winox Holdings paying out a modest 33% of its earnings. Yet cash flows are even more important than profits for assessing a dividend, so we need to see if the company generated enough cash to pay its distribution. What's good is that dividends were well covered by free cash flow, with the company paying out 25% of its cash flow last year.

It's positive to see that Winox Holdings's dividend is covered by both profits and cash flow, since this is generally a sign that the dividend is sustainable, and a lower payout ratio usually suggests a greater margin of safety before the dividend gets cut.

Click here to see how much of its profit Winox Holdings paid out over the last 12 months.

Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?

Businesses with shrinking earnings are tricky from a dividend perspective. Investors love dividends, so if earnings fall and the dividend is reduced, expect a stock to be sold off heavily at the same time. Winox Holdings's earnings per share have fallen at approximately 22% a year over the previous five years. When earnings per share fall, the maximum amount of dividends that can be paid also falls.

The main way most investors will assess a company's dividend prospects is by checking the historical rate of dividend growth. Winox Holdings's dividend payments per share have declined at 5.0% per year on average over the past 10 years, which is uninspiring. It's never nice to see earnings and dividends falling, but at least management has cut the dividend rather than potentially risk the company's health in an attempt to maintain it.

The Bottom Line

Has Winox Holdings got what it takes to maintain its dividend payments? Winox Holdings has comfortably low cash and profit payout ratios, which may mean the dividend is sustainable even in the face of a sharp decline in earnings per share. Still, we consider declining earnings to be a warning sign. In summary, while it has some positive characteristics, we're not inclined to race out and buy Winox Holdings today.

In light of that, while Winox Holdings has an appealing dividend, it's worth knowing the risks involved with this stock. Every company has risks, and we've spotted 4 warning signs for Winox Holdings (of which 1 is a bit unpleasant!) you should know about.

Generally, we wouldn't recommend just buying the first dividend stock you see. Here's a curated list of interesting stocks that are strong dividend payers.

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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.