It looks like Straco Corporation Limited (SGX:S85) is about to go ex-dividend in the next three days. The ex-dividend date is one business day before the record date, which is the cut-off date for shareholders to be present on the company's books to be eligible for a dividend payment. It is important to be aware of the ex-dividend date because any trade on the stock needs to have been settled on or before the record date. Accordingly, Straco investors that purchase the stock on or after the 9th of May will not receive the dividend, which will be paid on the 24th of May.

The company's next dividend payment will be S$0.02 per share. Last year, in total, the company distributed S$0.015 to shareholders. Based on the last year's worth of payments, Straco stock has a trailing yield of around 3.1% on the current share price of S$0.485. If you buy this business for its dividend, you should have an idea of whether Straco's dividend is reliable and sustainable. So we need to investigate whether Straco can afford its dividend, and if the dividend could grow.

Dividends are usually paid out of company profits, so if a company pays out more than it earned then its dividend is usually at greater risk of being cut. Fortunately Straco's payout ratio is modest, at just 50% of profit. A useful secondary check can be to evaluate whether Straco generated enough free cash flow to afford its dividend. Fortunately, it paid out only 26% of its free cash flow in the past year.

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 how much of its profit Straco paid out over the last 12 months.

Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?

When earnings decline, dividend companies become much harder to analyse and own safely. If earnings decline and the company is forced to cut its dividend, investors could watch the value of their investment go up in smoke. With that in mind, we're discomforted by Straco's 9.2% per annum decline in earnings in the past five years. Such a sharp decline casts doubt on the future sustainability of the dividend.

Another key way to measure a company's dividend prospects is by measuring its historical rate of dividend growth. Straco has seen its dividend decline 2.8% per annum on average over the past 10 years, which is not great to see. 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.

Final Takeaway

Has Straco got what it takes to maintain its dividend payments? Straco 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 Straco from a dividend perspective.

In light of that, while Straco has an appealing dividend, it's worth knowing the risks involved with this stock. Our analysis shows 2 warning signs for Straco that we strongly recommend you have a look at before investing in the company.

If you're in the market for strong dividend payers, we recommend checking our selection of top 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.