Interested In FINEDIGITAL's (KOSDAQ:038950) Upcoming ₩50.00 Dividend? You Have Three Days Left

Regular readers will know that we love our dividends at Simply Wall St, which is why it's exciting to see FINEDIGITAL Inc. (KOSDAQ:038950) is about to trade ex-dividend in the next 3 days. This means that investors who purchase shares on or after the 29th of December will not receive the dividend, which will be paid on the 14th of April.

FINEDIGITAL's next dividend payment will be ₩50.00 per share, and in the last 12 months, the company paid a total of ₩50.00 per share. Last year's total dividend payments show that FINEDIGITAL has a trailing yield of 0.8% on the current share price of ₩6250. Dividends are a major contributor to investment returns for long term holders, but only if the dividend continues to be paid. We need to see whether the dividend is covered by earnings and if it's growing.

Check out our latest analysis for FINEDIGITAL

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. FINEDIGITAL is paying out just 5.3% of its profit after tax, which is comfortably low and leaves plenty of breathing room in the case of adverse events. 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 5.7% of its cash flow last year.

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.

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

Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?

Stocks with flat earnings can still be attractive dividend payers, but it is important to be more conservative with your approach and demand a greater margin for safety when it comes to dividend sustainability. If business enters a downturn and the dividend is cut, the company could see its value fall precipitously. With that in mind, we're not enthused to see that FINEDIGITAL's earnings per share have remained effectively flat over the past five years. Better than seeing them fall off a cliff, for sure, but the best dividend stocks grow their earnings meaningfully over the long run.

Many investors will assess a company's dividend performance by evaluating how much the dividend payments have changed over time. FINEDIGITAL has seen its dividend decline 6.7% per annum on average over the past 10 years, which is not great to see.

The Bottom Line

From a dividend perspective, should investors buy or avoid FINEDIGITAL? Earnings per share have been flat, although at least the company is paying out a low and conservative percentage of both its earnings and cash flow. It's definitely not great to see earnings falling, but at least there may be some buffer before the dividend gets cut. Overall, it's not a bad combination, but we feel that there are likely more attractive dividend prospects out there.

With that in mind, a critical part of thorough stock research is being aware of any risks that stock currently faces. Our analysis shows 3 warning signs for FINEDIGITAL and you should be aware of them before buying any shares.

If you're in the market for dividend stocks, we recommend checking our list of top dividend stocks with a greater than 2% yield and an upcoming dividend.

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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.
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