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Regular readers will know that we love our dividends at Simply Wall St, which is why it's exciting to see Jerash Holdings (US), Inc. (NASDAQ:JRSH) is about to trade ex-dividend in the next 4 days. This means that investors who purchase shares on or after the 14th of August will not receive the dividend, which will be paid on the 24th of August.
Jerash Holdings (US)'s next dividend payment will be US$0.05 per share, on the back of last year when the company paid a total of US$0.20 to shareholders. Last year's total dividend payments show that Jerash Holdings (US) has a trailing yield of 4.3% on the current share price of $4.6. 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! That's why we should always check whether the dividend payments appear sustainable, and if the company is growing.
View our latest analysis for Jerash Holdings (US)
Dividends are typically paid from company earnings. If a company pays more in dividends than it earned in profit, then the dividend could be unsustainable. Fortunately Jerash Holdings (US)'s payout ratio is modest, at just 35% of profit. 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 101% of its free cash flow in the form of dividends last year, which is outside the comfort zone for most businesses. Cash flows are usually much more volatile than earnings, so this could be a temporary effect - but we'd generally want look more closely here.
Jerash Holdings (US) does have a large net cash position on the balance sheet, which could fund large dividends for a time, if the company so chose. Still, smart investors know that it is better to assess dividends relative to the cash and profit generated by the business. Paying dividends out of cash on the balance sheet is not long-term sustainable.
While Jerash Holdings (US)'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 Jerash Holdings (US)'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?
Stocks with flat earnings can still be attractive dividend payers, but it is important to be more conservative with your approach and demand a greater margin for safety when it comes to dividend sustainability. If business enters a downturn and the dividend is cut, the company could see its value fall precipitously. That explains why we're not overly excited about Jerash Holdings (US)'s flat earnings over the past five years. We'd take that over an earnings decline any day, but in the long run, the best dividend stocks all grow their earnings per share. Earnings have been growing somewhat, but we're concerned dividend payments consumed most of the company's cash flow over the past year.