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The board of Bucher Industries AG (VTX:BUCN) has announced that the dividend on 24th of April will be increased to CHF13.50, which will be 3.8% higher than last year's payment of CHF13.00 which covered the same period. This makes the dividend yield 3.4%, which is above the industry average.
See our latest analysis for Bucher Industries
Bucher Industries' Dividend Is Well Covered By Earnings
We like to see robust dividend yields, but that doesn't matter if the payment isn't sustainable. Based on the last payment, Bucher Industries was paying only paying out a fraction of earnings, but the payment was a massive 122% of cash flows. The business might be trying to strike a balance between returning cash to shareholders and reinvesting back into the business, but this high of a payout ratio could definitely force the dividend to be cut if the company runs into a bit of a tough spot.
Over the next year, EPS is forecast to fall by 20.0%. If the dividend continues along recent trends, we estimate the payout ratio could be 53%, which we consider to be quite comfortable, with most of the company's earnings left over to grow the business in the future.
Bucher Industries Has A Solid Track Record
Even over a long history of paying dividends, the company's distributions have been remarkably stable. The annual payment during the last 10 years was CHF5.00 in 2014, and the most recent fiscal year payment was CHF13.00. This means that it has been growing its distributions at 10% per annum over that time. Rapidly growing dividends for a long time is a very valuable feature for an income stock.
The Dividend Has Growth Potential
The company's investors will be pleased to have been receiving dividend income for some time. We are encouraged to see that Bucher Industries has grown earnings per share at 9.5% per year over the past five years. Bucher Industries definitely has the potential to grow its dividend in the future with earnings on an uptrend and a low payout ratio.
In Summary
In summary, while it's always good to see the dividend being raised, we don't think Bucher Industries' payments are rock solid. While Bucher Industries is earning enough to cover the payments, the cash flows are lacking. We don't think Bucher Industries is a great stock to add to your portfolio if income is your focus.
Investors generally tend to favour companies with a consistent, stable dividend policy as opposed to those operating an irregular one. Still, investors need to consider a host of other factors, apart from dividend payments, when analysing a company. Case in point: We've spotted 2 warning signs for Bucher Industries (of which 1 shouldn't be ignored!) you should know about. 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.