Read This Before Considering Scorpio Tankers Inc. (NYSE:STNG) For Its Upcoming US$0.10 Dividend

Scorpio Tankers Inc. (NYSE:STNG) is about to trade ex-dividend in the next 4 days. You will need to purchase shares before the 1st of March to receive the dividend, which will be paid on the 15th of March.

Scorpio Tankers's next dividend payment will be US$0.10 per share, and in the last 12 months, the company paid a total of US$0.40 per share. Calculating the last year's worth of payments shows that Scorpio Tankers has a trailing yield of 2.6% on the current share price of $15.68. Dividends are a major contributor to investment returns for long term holders, but only if the dividend continues to be paid. As a result, readers should always check whether Scorpio Tankers has been able to grow its dividends, or if the dividend might be cut.

View our latest analysis for Scorpio Tankers

If a company pays out more in dividends than it earned, then the dividend might become unsustainable - hardly an ideal situation. Scorpio Tankers is paying out just 23% 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. Luckily it paid out just 5.6% of its free 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 the company's payout ratio, plus analyst estimates of its future dividends.

Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?

Companies with falling earnings are riskier for dividend shareholders. Investors love dividends, so if earnings fall and the dividend is reduced, expect a stock to be sold off heavily at the same time. Scorpio Tankers's earnings have collapsed faster than Wile E Coyote's schemes to trap the Road Runner; down a tremendous 34% a year over the past five years.

Another key way to measure a company's dividend prospects is by measuring its historical rate of dividend growth. Scorpio Tankers's dividend payments per share have declined at 36% per year on average over the past 10 years, which is uninspiring. While it's not great that earnings and dividends per share have fallen in recent years, we're encouraged by the fact that management has trimmed the dividend rather than risk over-committing the company in a risky attempt to maintain yields to shareholders.

Final Takeaway

Has Scorpio Tankers got what it takes to maintain its dividend payments? Scorpio Tankers 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. It might be worth researching if the company is reinvesting in growth projects that could grow earnings and dividends in the future, but for now we're not all that optimistic on its dividend prospects.

On that note, you'll want to research what risks Scorpio Tankers is facing. To help with this, we've discovered 3 warning signs for Scorpio Tankers (1 makes us a bit uncomfortable!) that you ought to be aware of before buying the shares.

We wouldn't recommend just buying the first dividend stock you see, though. Here's a list of interesting 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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