Regular readers will know that we love our dividends at Simply Wall St, which is why it's exciting to see Cortina Holdings Limited (SGX:C41) is about to trade ex-dividend in the next three days. The ex-dividend date is one business day before a company's record date, which is the date on which the company determines which shareholders are entitled to receive a dividend. The ex-dividend date is of consequence because whenever a stock is bought or sold, the trade takes at least two business day to settle. Therefore, if you purchase Cortina Holdings' shares on or after the 4th of August, you won't be eligible to receive the dividend, when it is paid on the 18th of August.
The company's next dividend payment will be S$0.16 per share, on the back of last year when the company paid a total of S$0.16 to shareholders. Based on the last year's worth of payments, Cortina Holdings has a trailing yield of 4.0% on the current stock price of SGD4. If you buy this business for its dividend, you should have an idea of whether Cortina Holdings's dividend is reliable and sustainable. That's why we should always check whether the dividend payments appear sustainable, and if the company is growing.
Check out our latest analysis for Cortina Holdings
If a company pays out more in dividends than it earned, then the dividend might become unsustainable - hardly an ideal situation. Cortina Holdings paid out just 4.3% of its profit last year, which we think is conservatively low and leaves plenty of margin for unexpected circumstances. Yet cash flow is typically more important than profit for assessing dividend sustainability, so we should always check if the company generated enough cash to afford its dividend. What's good is that dividends were well covered by free cash flow, with the company paying out 4.0% of its cash flow last year.
It's positive to see that Cortina Holdings's dividend is covered by both profits and cash flow, since this is generally a sign that the dividend is sustainable, and a lower payout ratio usually suggests a greater margin of safety before the dividend gets cut.
Click here to see how much of its profit Cortina Holdings paid out over the last 12 months.
Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?
Companies with consistently growing earnings per share generally make the best dividend stocks, as they usually find it easier to grow dividends per share. Investors love dividends, so if earnings fall and the dividend is reduced, expect a stock to be sold off heavily at the same time. It's encouraging to see Cortina Holdings has grown its earnings rapidly, up 28% a year for the past five years. Cortina Holdings earnings per share have been sprinting ahead like the Road Runner at a track and field day; scarcely stopping even for a cheeky "beep-beep". We also like that it is reinvesting most of its profits in its business.'