Why You Should Leave Innophos Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:IPHS)'s Upcoming Dividend On The Shelf
Regular readers will know that we love our dividends at Simply Wall St, which is why it's exciting to see Innophos Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:IPHS) is about to trade ex-dividend in the next 4 days. You can purchase shares before the 22nd of August in order to receive the dividend, which the company will pay on the 6th of September.
Innophos Holdings's next dividend payment will be US$0.48 per share, on the back of last year when the company paid a total of US$1.92 to shareholders. Based on the last year's worth of payments, Innophos Holdings has a trailing yield of 7.2% on the current stock price of $26.49. Dividends are an important source of income to many shareholders, but the health of the business is crucial to maintaining those dividends. As a result, readers should always check whether Innophos Holdings has been able to grow its dividends, or if the dividend might be cut.
See our latest analysis for Innophos Holdings
If a company pays out more in dividends than it earned, then the dividend might become unsustainable - hardly an ideal situation. Innophos Holdings distributed an unsustainably high 130% of its profit as dividends to shareholders last year. Without more sustainable payment behaviour, the dividend looks precarious. 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. It paid out 109% of its free cash flow in the form of dividends last year, which is outside the comfort zone for most businesses. Companies usually need cash more than they need earnings - expenses don't pay themselves - so it's not great to see it paying out so much of its cash flow.
As Innophos Holdings's dividend was not well covered by either earnings or cash flow, we would be concerned that this dividend could be at risk over the long term.
Click here to see the company's payout ratio, plus analyst estimates of its future dividends.
Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?
Businesses with shrinking earnings are tricky from a dividend perspective. If earnings decline and the company is forced to cut its dividend, investors could watch the value of their investment go up in smoke. Innophos Holdings's earnings per share have fallen at approximately 8.1% a year over the previous 5 years. Such a sharp decline casts doubt on the future sustainability of the dividend.
Another key way to measure a company's dividend prospects is by measuring its historical rate of dividend growth. In the past 10 years, Innophos Holdings has increased its dividend at approximately 11% a year on average. The only way to pay higher dividends when earnings are shrinking is either to pay out a larger percentage of profits, spend cash from the balance sheet, or borrow the money. Innophos Holdings is already paying out 130% of its profits, and with shrinking earnings we think it's unlikely that this dividend will grow quickly in the future.
To Sum It Up
Is Innophos Holdings worth buying for its dividend? Not only are earnings per share declining, but Innophos Holdings is paying out an uncomfortably high percentage of both its earnings and cashflow to shareholders as dividends. Unless there are grounds to believe a turnaround is imminent, this is one of the least attractive dividend stocks under this analysis. It's not that we think Innophos Holdings is a bad company, but these characteristics don't generally lead to outstanding dividend performance.
Ever wonder what the future holds for Innophos Holdings? See what the three analysts we track are forecasting, with this visualisation of its historical and future estimated earnings and cash flow
A common investment mistake is buying the first interesting stock you see. Here you can find a list of promising dividend stocks with a greater than 2% yield and an upcoming dividend.
We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.
If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
