Readers hoping to buy Sleep Country Canada Holdings Inc. (TSE:ZZZ) for its dividend will need to make their move shortly, as the stock is about to trade ex-dividend. Ex-dividend means that investors that purchase the stock on or after the 13th of February will not receive this dividend, which will be paid on the 25th of February.
Sleep Country Canada Holdings's next dividend payment will be CA$0.20 per share, on the back of last year when the company paid a total of CA$0.78 to shareholders. Based on the last year's worth of payments, Sleep Country Canada Holdings has a trailing yield of 3.7% on the current stock price of CA$20.91. Dividends are an important source of income to many shareholders, but the health of the business is crucial to maintaining those dividends. We need to see whether the dividend is covered by earnings and if it's growing.
View our latest analysis for Sleep Country Canada Holdings
Dividends are usually paid out of company profits, so if a company pays out more than it earned then its dividend is usually at greater risk of being cut. Sleep Country Canada Holdings is paying out an acceptable 52% of its profit, a common payout level among most companies. A useful secondary check can be to evaluate whether Sleep Country Canada Holdings generated enough free cash flow to afford its dividend. Thankfully its dividend payments took up just 37% of the free cash flow it generated, which is a comfortable payout ratio.
It's positive to see that Sleep Country Canada 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 the company's payout ratio, plus analyst estimates of its future dividends.
Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?
Stocks in companies that generate sustainable earnings growth often make the best dividend prospects, as it is easier to lift the dividend when earnings are rising. If earnings fall far enough, the company could be forced to cut its dividend. It's encouraging to see Sleep Country Canada Holdings has grown its earnings rapidly, up 127% a year for the past five years. Management appears to be striking a nice balance between reinvesting for growth and paying dividends to shareholders. Earnings per share have been growing quickly and in combination with some reinvestment and a middling payout ratio, the stock may have decent dividend prospects going forwards.
Another key way to measure a company's dividend prospects is by measuring its historical rate of dividend growth. In the last four years, Sleep Country Canada Holdings has lifted its dividend by approximately 11% a year on average. It's great to see earnings per share growing rapidly over several years, and dividends per share growing right along with it.