What To Know Before Buying BII Railway Transportation Technology Holdings Company Limited (HKG:1522) For Its Dividend

Could BII Railway Transportation Technology Holdings Company Limited (HKG:1522) be an attractive dividend share to own for the long haul? Investors are often drawn to strong companies with the idea of reinvesting the dividends. If you are hoping to live on the income from dividends, it's important to be a lot more stringent with your investments than the average punter.

In this case, BII Railway Transportation Technology Holdings likely looks attractive to dividend investors, given its 3.1% dividend yield and eight-year payment history. We'd agree the yield does look enticing. Remember though, due to the recent spike in its share price, BII Railway Transportation Technology Holdings's yield will look lower, even though the market may now be factoring in an improvement in its long-term prospects. Some simple analysis can reduce the risk of holding BII Railway Transportation Technology Holdings for its dividend, and we'll focus on the most important aspects below.

Click the interactive chart for our full dividend analysis

Payout ratios

Companies (usually) pay dividends out of their earnings. If a company is paying more than it earns, the dividend might have to be cut. So we need to form a view on if a company's dividend is sustainable, relative to its net profit after tax. In the last year, BII Railway Transportation Technology Holdings paid out 60% of its profit as dividends. This is a fairly normal payout ratio among most businesses. It allows a higher dividend to be paid to shareholders, but does limit the capital retained in the business - which could be good or bad.

In addition to comparing dividends against profits, we should inspect whether the company generated enough cash to pay its dividend. BII Railway Transportation Technology Holdings paid out 16% of its free cash flow as dividends last year, which is conservative and suggests the dividend is sustainable. It's encouraging to see that the dividend is covered by both profit and cash flow. This generally suggests the dividend is sustainable, as long as earnings don't drop precipitously.

With a strong net cash balance, BII Railway Transportation Technology Holdings investors may not have much to worry about in the near term from a dividend perspective.

Consider getting our latest analysis on BII Railway Transportation Technology Holdings' financial position here.

Dividend Volatility

From the perspective of an income investor who wants to earn dividends for many years, there is not much point buying a stock if its dividend is regularly cut or is not reliable. Looking at the last decade of data, we can see that BII Railway Transportation Technology Holdings paid its first dividend at least eight years ago. It's good to see that BII Railway Transportation Technology Holdings has been paying a dividend for a number of years. However, the dividend has been cut at least once in the past, and we're concerned that what has been cut once, could be cut again. During the past eight-year period, the first annual payment was HK$0.03 in 2013, compared to HK$0.02 last year. This works out to be a decline of approximately 2.8% per year over that time. BII Railway Transportation Technology Holdings' dividend hasn't shrunk linearly at 2.8% per annum, but the CAGR is a useful estimate of the historical rate of change.

We struggle to make a case for buying BII Railway Transportation Technology Holdings for its dividend, given that payments have shrunk over the past eight years.

Dividend Growth Potential

Given that the dividend has been cut in the past, we need to check if earnings are growing and if that might lead to stronger dividends in the future. It's not great to see that BII Railway Transportation Technology Holdings' have fallen at approximately 3.1% over the past five years. A modest decline in earnings per share is not great to see, but it doesn't automatically make a dividend unsustainable. Still, we'd vastly prefer to see EPS growth when researching dividend stocks.

Conclusion

To summarise, shareholders should always check that BII Railway Transportation Technology Holdings' dividends are affordable, that its dividend payments are relatively stable, and that it has decent prospects for growing its earnings and dividend. First, we think BII Railway Transportation Technology Holdings has an acceptable payout ratio and its dividend is well covered by cashflow. Second, earnings per share have been in decline, and its dividend has been cut at least once in the past. In sum, we find it hard to get excited about BII Railway Transportation Technology Holdings from a dividend perspective. It's not that we think it's a bad business; just that there are other companies that perform better on these criteria.

Market movements attest to how highly valued a consistent dividend policy is compared to one which is more unpredictable. At the same time, there are other factors our readers should be conscious of before pouring capital into a stock. As an example, we've identified 3 warning signs for BII Railway Transportation Technology Holdings that you should be aware of before investing.

We have also put together a list of global stocks with a market capitalisation above $1bn and yielding more 3%.

If you decide to trade BII Railway Transportation Technology Holdings, use the lowest-cost* platform that is rated #1 Overall by Barron’s, Interactive Brokers. Trade stocks, options, futures, forex, bonds and funds on 135 markets, all from a single integrated account. Promoted

This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. 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.
^*Interactive Brokers Rated Lowest Cost Broker by StockBrokers.com Annual Online Review 2020

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.