Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW): Dividend Is Coming In 3 Days, Should You Buy?

Shares of Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) will begin trading ex-dividend in 3 days. To qualify for the dividend check of $0.18 per share, investors must have owned the shares prior to 30 May 2018, which is the last day the company's management will finalize their list of shareholders to which they will send dividend payments. Should you diversify into Corning and boost your portfolio income stream? Well, keep on reading because today, I'm going to look at the latest data and analyze the stock and its dividend property in further detail. Check out our latest analysis for Corning

5 questions to ask before buying a dividend stock

Whenever I am looking at a potential dividend stock investment, I always check these five metrics:

• Is its annual yield among the top 25% of dividend-paying companies?
• Has it paid dividend every year without dramatically reducing payout in the past?
• Has dividend per share risen in the past couple of years?
• Can it afford to pay the current rate of dividends from its earnings?
• Will the company be able to keep paying dividend based on the future earnings growth?

How well does Corning fit our criteria?

Corning has a negative payout ratio, which means that it is loss-making, and paying its dividend from its retained earnings. If dividend is a key criteria in your investment consideration, then you need to make sure the dividend stock you're eyeing out is reliable in its payments. GLW has increased its DPS from $0.2 to $0.72 in the past 10 years. During this period it has not missed a payment, as one would expect for a company increasing its dividend. These are all positive signs of a great, reliable dividend stock. In terms of its peers, Corning has a yield of 2.66%, which is high for Electronic stocks but still below the market's top dividend payers.

Next Steps:

Taking into account the dividend metrics, Corning ticks most of the boxes as a strong dividend investment, putting it in my list of top dividend payers. 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 fundamental aspects you should further examine:

1. Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for GLW’s future growth? Take a look at our free research report of analyst consensus for GLW’s outlook.
2. Valuation: What is GLW 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 GLW is currently mispriced by the market.
3. Other Dividend Rockstars: Are there better dividend payers with stronger fundamentals out there? Check out our free list of these great stocks here.

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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.