Yahoo Finance It Might Not Be A Great Idea To Buy Nordic American Tankers Limited (NYSE:NAT) For Its Next Dividend
Some investors rely on dividends for growing their wealth, and if you're one of those dividend sleuths, you might be intrigued to know that Nordic American Tankers Limited (NYSE:NAT) is about to go ex-dividend in just 4 days. You can purchase shares before the 22nd of May in order to receive the dividend, which the company will pay on the 5th of June.
Nordic American Tankers's next dividend payment will be US$0.14 per share, which looks like a nice increase on last year, when the company distributed a total of US$0.13 to shareholders. If you buy this business for its dividend, you should have an idea of whether Nordic American Tankers's dividend is reliable and sustainable. So we need to investigate whether Nordic American Tankers can afford its dividend, and if the dividend could grow.
View our latest analysis for Nordic American Tankers
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. Nordic American Tankers's dividend is not well covered by earnings, as the company lost money last year. This is not a sustainable state of affairs, so it would be worth investigating if earnings are expected to recover. Given that the company reported a loss last year, we now need to see if it generated enough free cash flow to fund the dividend. If cash earnings don't cover the dividend, the company would have to pay dividends out of cash in the bank, or by borrowing money, neither of which is long-term sustainable. Thankfully its dividend payments took up just 28% of the free cash flow it generated, which is a comfortable payout ratio.
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 business enters a downturn and the dividend is cut, the company could see its value fall precipitously. Nordic American Tankers was unprofitable last year and, unfortunately, the general trend suggests its earnings have been in decline over the last five years, making us wonder if the dividend is sustainable at all.
The main way most investors will assess a company's dividend prospects is by checking the historical rate of dividend growth. Nordic American Tankers's dividend payments per share have declined at 24% per year on average over the past ten years, which is uninspiring. While it's not great that earnings and dividends per share have fallen in recent years, we're encouraged by the fact that management has trimmed the dividend rather than risk over-committing the company in a risky attempt to maintain yields to shareholders.
Get our latest analysis on Nordic American Tankers's balance sheet health here.
Final Takeaway
Is Nordic American Tankers worth buying for its dividend? We're a bit uncomfortable with it paying a dividend while being loss-making. However, we note that the dividend was covered by cash flow. With the way things are shaping up from a dividend perspective, we'd be inclined to steer clear of Nordic American Tankers.
With that in mind though, if the poor dividend characteristics of Nordic American Tankers don't faze you, it's worth being mindful of the risks involved with this business. In terms of investment risks, we've identified 3 warning signs with Nordic American Tankers and understanding them should be part of your investment process.
If you're in the market for dividend stocks, we recommend checking our list of top dividend stocks with a greater than 2% yield and an upcoming dividend.
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.
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. Thank you for reading.
