Should You Buy CBS Corporation (NYSE:CBS) For Its 1.3% Dividend?

Dividends play a key role in compounding returns over time and can form a large part of our portfolio return. Historically, CBS Corporation (NYSE:CBS) has paid a dividend to shareholders. It currently yields 1.3%. Does CBS tick all the boxes of a great dividend stock? Below, I'll take you through my analysis.

See our latest analysis for CBS

5 checks you should do on a dividend stock

When researching a dividend stock, I always follow the following screening criteria:

• Is it the top 25% annual dividend yield payer?
• Has it paid dividend every year without dramatically reducing payout in the past?
• Has the amount of dividend per share grown over the past?
• Does earnings amply cover its dividend payments?
• Based on future earnings growth, will it be able to continue to payout dividend at the current rate?

How does CBS fare?

CBS has a trailing twelve-month payout ratio of 20%, which means that the dividend is covered by earnings. However, going forward, analysts expect CBS's payout to fall to 13% of its earnings, which leads to a dividend yield of around 1.5%. However, EPS should increase to $5.47, meaning that the lower payout ratio does not necessarily implicate a lower dividend payment.

When considering the sustainability of dividends, it is also worth checking the cash flow of a company. Cash flow is important because companies with strong cash flow can usually sustain higher payout ratios.

If there is one thing that you want to be reliable in your life, it's dividend stocks and their constant income stream. Dividend payments from CBS have been volatile in the past 10 years, with some years experiencing significant drops of over 25%. This means that dividend hunters should probably steer clear of the stock, at least for now until the track record improves.

Relative to peers, CBS produces a yield of 1.3%, which is on the low-side for Media stocks.

Next Steps:

After digging a little deeper into CBS's yield, it's easy to see why you should be cautious investing in the company just for the dividend. On the other hand, if you are not strictly just a dividend investor, the stock could still be offering some interesting investment opportunities. Given that this is purely a dividend analysis, I recommend taking sufficient time to understand its core business and determine whether the company and its investment properties suit your overall goals. Below, I've compiled three relevant factors you should further research:

1. Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for CBS’s future growth? Take a look at our free research report of analyst consensus for CBS’s outlook.
2. Valuation: What is CBS worth today? Even if the stock is a cash cow, it's not worth an infinite price. The intrinsic value infographic in our free research report helps visualize whether CBS is currently mispriced by the market.
3. Dividend Rockstars: Are there better dividend payers with stronger fundamentals out there? Check out our free list of these great stocks here.

To help readers see past the short term volatility of the financial market, we aim to bring you a long-term focused research analysis purely driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis does not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements.

The author is an independent contributor and at the time of publication had no position in the stocks mentioned. For errors that warrant correction please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com.

Simply Wall St analyst Simply Wall St and Simply Wall St have no position in any of the companies mentioned. This article 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.