Should You Buy SPK Corporation (TSE:7466) For Its Upcoming Dividend?

SPK Corporation (TSE:7466) stock is about to trade ex-dividend in three days. The ex-dividend date is two business days before a company's record date in most cases, which is the date on which the company determines which shareholders are entitled to receive a dividend. The ex-dividend date is important as the process of settlement involves at least two full business days. So if you miss that date, you would not show up on the company's books on the record date. In other words, investors can purchase SPK's shares before the 28th of March in order to be eligible for the dividend, which will be paid on the 2nd of June.

The company's upcoming dividend is JP¥32.00 a share, following on from the last 12 months, when the company distributed a total of JP¥64.00 per share to shareholders. Calculating the last year's worth of payments shows that SPK has a trailing yield of 3.0% on the current share price of JP¥2144.00. If you buy this business for its dividend, you should have an idea of whether SPK's dividend is reliable and sustainable. That's why we should always check whether the dividend payments appear sustainable, and if the company is growing.

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 SPK's payout ratio is modest, at just 26% of profit. A useful secondary check can be to evaluate whether SPK generated enough free cash flow to afford its dividend. It paid out 82% of its free cash flow as dividends, which is within usual limits but will limit the company's ability to lift the dividend if there's no growth.

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.

View our latest analysis for SPK

Click here to see how much of its profit SPK paid out over the last 12 months.

Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?

Stocks in companies that generate sustainable earnings growth often make the best dividend prospects, as it is easier to lift the dividend when earnings are rising. If earnings fall far enough, the company could be forced to cut its dividend. This is why it's a relief to see SPK earnings per share are up 8.6% per annum over the last five years. Decent historical earnings per share growth suggests SPK has been effectively growing value for shareholders. However, it's now paying out more than half its earnings as dividends. If management lifts the payout ratio further, we'd take this as a tacit signal that the company's growth prospects are slowing.

The main way most investors will assess a company's dividend prospects is by checking the historical rate of dividend growth. SPK has delivered 8.1% dividend growth per year on average over the past 10 years. We're glad to see dividends rising alongside earnings over a number of years, which may be a sign the company intends to share the growth with shareholders.

Final Takeaway

Is SPK an attractive dividend stock, or better left on the shelf? Earnings per share growth has been modest, and it's interesting that SPK is paying out less than half of its earnings and more than half its cash flow to shareholders in the form of dividends. Overall, it's hard to get excited about SPK from a dividend perspective.

So while SPK looks good from a dividend perspective, it's always worthwhile being up to date with the risks involved in this stock. To help with this, we've discovered 1 warning sign for SPK that you should be aware of before investing in their shares.

Generally, we wouldn't recommend just buying the first dividend stock you see. Here's a curated list of interesting stocks that are strong dividend payers.