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Readers hoping to buy Valmont Industries, Inc. (NYSE:VMI) for its dividend will need to make their move shortly, as the stock is about to trade ex-dividend. This means that investors who purchase shares on or after the 26th of September will not receive the dividend, which will be paid on the 15th of October.
Valmont Industries's next dividend payment will be US$0.4 per share, on the back of last year when the company paid a total of US$1.5 to shareholders. Looking at the last 12 months of distributions, Valmont Industries has a trailing yield of approximately 1.1% on its current stock price of $137.25. Dividends are an important source of income to many shareholders, but the health of the business is crucial to maintaining those dividends. So we need to investigate whether Valmont Industries can afford its dividend, and if the dividend could grow.
Check out our latest analysis for Valmont Industries
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 Valmont Industries's payout ratio is modest, at just 33% of profit. 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. Thankfully its dividend payments took up just 27% of the free cash flow it generated, which is a comfortable payout ratio.
It's encouraging to see that the dividend is covered by both profit and cash flow. This generally suggests the dividend is sustainable, as long as earnings don't drop precipitously.
Click here to see the company's payout ratio, plus analyst estimates of its future dividends.
Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?
When earnings decline, dividend companies become much harder to analyse and own safely. If earnings fall far enough, the company could be forced to cut its dividend. Readers will understand then, why we're concerned to see Valmont Industries's earnings per share have dropped 15% 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.
The main way most investors will assess a company's dividend prospects is by checking the historical rate of dividend growth. Valmont Industries has delivered an average of 11% per year annual increase in its dividend, based on the past ten years of dividend payments.
The Bottom Line
From a dividend perspective, should investors buy or avoid Valmont Industries? Valmont Industries has comfortably low cash and profit payout ratios, which may mean the dividend is sustainable even in the face of a sharp decline in earnings per share. Still, we consider declining earnings to be a warning sign. All things considered, we are not particularly enthused about Valmont Industries from a dividend perspective.