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Dividends can be underrated but they form a large part of investment returns, playing an important role in compounding returns in the long run. Historically, PetMed Express Inc (NASDAQ:PETS) has paid dividends to shareholders, and these days it yields 3.6%. Let’s dig deeper into whether PetMed Express should have a place in your portfolio.

Check out our latest analysis for PetMed Express

5 checks you should do on a dividend stock

Whenever I am looking at a potential dividend stock investment, I always check these five metrics:

• Is it the top 25% annual dividend yield payer?

• Has it paid dividend every year without dramatically reducing payout in the past?

• Has it increased its dividend per share amount over the past?

• Does earnings amply cover its dividend payments?

• Will it have the ability to keep paying its dividends going forward?

Does PetMed Express pass our checks?

The company currently pays out 45% of its earnings as a dividend, according to its trailing twelve-month data, which means that the dividend is covered by earnings. Going forward, analysts expect PETS’s payout to remain around the same level at 47% of its earnings, which leads to a dividend yield of 3.6%. In addition to this, EPS should increase to $2.24.

When thinking about whether a dividend is sustainable, another factor to consider is the cash flow. Companies with strong cash flow can sustain a higher payout ratio, while companies with weaker cash flow generally cannot.

If there’s one type of stock you want to be reliable, it’s dividend stocks and their stable income-generating ability. Unfortunately, it is really too early to view PetMed Express as a dividend investment. It has only been consistently paying dividends for 9 years, however, standard practice for reliable payers is to look for a 10-year minimum track record.

Relative to peers, PetMed Express has a yield of 3.6%, which is high for Online Retail stocks.

Next Steps:

With these dividend metrics in mind, I definitely rank PetMed Express as a strong income stock, and is worth further research for anyone who considers dividends an important part of their portfolio strategy. Given that this is purely a dividend analysis, you should always research extensively before deciding whether or not a stock is an appropriate investment for you. I always recommend analysing the company’s fundamentals and underlying business before making an investment decision. I’ve put together three key factors you should further examine:

1. Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for PETS’s future growth? Take a look at our free research report of analyst consensus for PETS’s outlook.

2. Valuation: What is PETS worth today? Even if the stock is a cash cow, it’s not worth an infinite price. The intrinsic value infographic in our free research report helps visualize whether PETS is currently mispriced by the market.

3. Other Dividend Rockstars: Are there better dividend payers with stronger fundamentals out there? Check out our free list of these great stocks here.

To help readers see past the short term volatility of the financial market, we aim to bring you a long-term focused research analysis purely driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis does not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements.

The author is an independent contributor and at the time of publication had no position in the stocks mentioned. For errors that warrant correction please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com.