The board of Enerflex Ltd. (TSE:EFX) has announced that it will pay a dividend on the 1st of May, with investors receiving CA$0.025 per share. This means the annual payment will be 1.2% of the current stock price, which is lower than the industry average.

While the dividend yield is important for income investors, it is also important to consider any large share price moves, as this will generally outweigh any gains from distributions. Investors will be pleased to see that Enerflex's stock price has increased by 48% in the last 3 months, which is good for shareholders and can also explain a decrease in the dividend yield.

View our latest analysis for Enerflex

Enerflex's Earnings Easily Cover The Distributions

While yield is important, another factor to consider about a company's dividend is whether the current payout levels are feasible. While Enerflex is not profitable, it is paying out less than 75% of its free cash flow, which means that there is plenty left over for reinvestment into the business. This gives us some comfort about the level of the dividend payments.

According to analysts, EPS should be several times higher next year. Assuming the dividend continues along recent trends, we think the payout ratio will be 6.2%, which makes us pretty comfortable with the sustainability of the dividend.

Dividend Volatility

While the company has been paying a dividend for a long time, it has cut the dividend at least once in the last 10 years. Since 2014, the dividend has gone from CA$0.28 total annually to CA$0.10. Doing the maths, this is a decline of about 9.8% per year. Declining dividends isn't generally what we look for as they can indicate that the company is running into some challenges.

Dividend Growth Potential Is Shaky

Dividends have been going in the wrong direction, so we definitely want to see a different trend in the earnings per share. Over the past five years, it looks as though Enerflex's EPS has declined at around 63% a year. This steep decline can indicate that the business is going through a tough time, which could constrain its ability to pay a larger dividend each year in the future. It's not all bad news though, as the earnings are predicted to rise over the next 12 months - we would just be a bit cautious until this becomes a long term trend.

Enerflex's Dividend Doesn't Look Sustainable

Overall, we don't think this company makes a great dividend stock, even though the dividend wasn't cut this year. The payments haven't been particularly stable and we don't see huge growth potential, but with the dividend well covered by cash flows it could prove to be reliable over the short term. We would probably look elsewhere for an income investment.

Companies possessing a stable dividend policy will likely enjoy greater investor interest than those suffering from a more inconsistent approach. However, there are other things to consider for investors when analysing stock performance. Taking the debate a bit further, we've identified 1 warning sign for Enerflex that investors need to be conscious of moving forward. If you are a dividend investor, you might also want to look at our curated list of high yield dividend stocks.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.