Daifuku's (TSE:6383) Dividend Will Be ¥19.00

The board of Daifuku Co., Ltd. (TSE:6383) has announced that it will pay a dividend on the 5th of December, with investors receiving ¥19.00 per share. Although the dividend is now higher, the yield is only 1.4%, which is below the industry average.

View our latest analysis for Daifuku

Daifuku's Earnings Easily Cover The Distributions

If it is predictable over a long period, even low dividend yields can be attractive. However, prior to this announcement, Daifuku was quite comfortably covering its dividend with earnings and it was paying more than 75% of its free cash flow to shareholders. The business is returning a large chunk of its cash to shareholders, which means it is not being used to grow the business.

The next year is set to see EPS grow by 9.7%. Assuming the dividend continues along recent trends, we think the payout ratio could be 39% by next year, which is in a pretty sustainable range.

Dividend Volatility

The company has a long dividend track record, but it doesn't look great with cuts in the past. Since 2014, the dividend has gone from ¥6.67 total annually to ¥37.00. This means that it has been growing its distributions at 19% per annum over that time. It is great to see strong growth in the dividend payments, but cuts are concerning as it may indicate the payout policy is too ambitious.

Daifuku May Find It Hard To Grow The Dividend

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. Earnings have grown at around 3.2% a year for the past five years, which isn't massive but still better than seeing them shrink. If Daifuku is struggling to find viable investments, it always has the option to increase its payout ratio to pay more to shareholders.

In Summary

Overall, this is probably not a great income stock, even though the dividend is being raised at the moment. While Daifuku is earning enough to cover the dividend, we are generally unimpressed with its future prospects. We don't think Daifuku is a great stock to add to your portfolio if income is your focus.

Market movements attest to how highly valued a consistent dividend policy is compared to one which is more unpredictable. Meanwhile, despite the importance of dividend payments, they are not the only factors our readers should know when assessing a company. Companies that are growing earnings tend to be the best dividend stocks over the long term. See what the 8 analysts we track are forecasting for Daifuku for free with public analyst estimates for the company. 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.

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