Regular readers will know that we love our dividends at Simply Wall St, which is why it's exciting to see Intertape Polymer Group Inc. (TSE:ITP) is about to trade ex-dividend in the next 4 days. Ex-dividend means that investors that purchase the stock on or after the 13th of September will not receive this dividend, which will be paid on the 30th of September.
Intertape Polymer Group's next dividend payment will be US$0.15 per share, on the back of last year when the company paid a total of US$0.59 to shareholders. Based on the last year's worth of payments, Intertape Polymer Group has a trailing yield of 4.3% on the current stock price of CA$18.19. We love seeing companies pay a dividend, but it's also important to be sure that laying the golden eggs isn't going to kill our golden goose! So we need to investigate whether Intertape Polymer Group can afford its dividend, and if the dividend could grow.
View our latest analysis for Intertape Polymer Group
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. Its dividend payout ratio is 89% of profit, which means the company is paying out a majority of its earnings. The relatively limited profit reinvestment could slow the rate of future earnings growth We'd be worried about the risk of a drop in earnings. Yet cash flows are even more important than profits for assessing a dividend, so we need to see if the company generated enough cash to pay its distribution. Intertape Polymer Group paid out more free cash flow than it generated - 133%, to be precise - last year, which we think is concerningly high. It's hard to consistently pay out more cash than you generate without either borrowing or using company cash, so we'd wonder how the company justifies this payout level.
While Intertape Polymer Group's dividends were covered by the company's reported profits, cash is somewhat more important, so it's not great to see that the company didn't generate enough cash to pay its dividend. Were this to happen repeatedly, this would be a risk to Intertape Polymer Group's ability to maintain its dividend.
Click here to see the company's payout ratio, plus analyst estimates of its future dividends.
Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?
Companies with falling earnings are riskier for dividend shareholders. Investors love dividends, so if earnings fall and the dividend is reduced, expect a stock to be sold off heavily at the same time. Readers will understand then, why we're concerned to see Intertape Polymer Group's earnings per share have dropped 11% a year over the past five years. Ultimately, when earnings per share decline, the size of the pie from which dividends can be paid, shrinks.