4 Days To Buy AVX Corporation (NYSE:AVX) Before The Ex-Dividend Date
It looks like AVX Corporation (NYSE:AVX) is about to go ex-dividend in the next 4 days. You can purchase shares before the 7th of November in order to receive the dividend, which the company will pay on the 22nd of November.
AVX's upcoming dividend is US$0.1 a share, following on from the last 12 months, when the company distributed a total of US$0.5 per share to shareholders. Based on the last year's worth of payments, AVX has a trailing yield of 2.9% on the current stock price of $15.6. Dividends are a major contributor to investment returns for long term holders, but only if the dividend continues to be paid. As a result, readers should always check whether AVX has been able to grow its dividends, or if the dividend might be cut.
Check out our latest analysis for AVX
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. Fortunately AVX's payout ratio is modest, at just 34% of profit. Yet cash flows are even more important than profits for assessing a dividend, so we need to see if the company generated enough cash to pay its distribution. AVX paid out more free cash flow than it generated - 187%, to be precise - last year, which we think is concerningly high. We're curious about why the company paid out more cash than it generated last year, since this can be one of the early signs that a dividend may be unsustainable.
AVX does have a large net cash position on the balance sheet, which could fund large dividends for a time, if the company so chose. Still, smart investors know that it is better to assess dividends relative to the cash and profit generated by the business. Paying dividends out of cash on the balance sheet is not long-term sustainable.
AVX paid out less in dividends than it reported in profits, but unfortunately it didn't generate enough cash to cover the dividend. Were this to happen repeatedly, this would be a risk to AVX's ability to maintain its dividend.
Click here to see how much of its profit AVX paid out over the last 12 months.
Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?
Companies with consistently growing earnings per share generally make the best dividend stocks, as they usually find it easier to grow dividends per share. If earnings fall far enough, the company could be forced to cut its dividend. For this reason, we're glad to see AVX's earnings per share have risen 13% per annum over the last five years. Earnings have been growing at a decent rate, but we're concerned dividend payments consumed most of the company's cash flow over the past year.
Another key way to measure a company's dividend prospects is by measuring its historical rate of dividend growth. In the past ten years, AVX has increased its dividend at approximately 11% a year on average. It's great to see earnings per share growing rapidly over several years, and dividends per share growing right along with it.
The Bottom Line
Has AVX got what it takes to maintain its dividend payments? We're glad to see the company has been improving its earnings per share while also paying out a low percentage of income. However, it's not great to see it paying out what we see as an uncomfortably high percentage of its cash flow. To summarise, AVX looks okay on this analysis, although it doesn't appear a stand-out opportunity.
Want to learn more about AVX? Here's a visualisation of its historical rate of revenue and earnings growth.
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.
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.
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. Thank you for reading.
