Is Arkema S.A. (EPA:AKE) An Attractive Dividend Stock?
A large part of investment returns can be generated by dividend-paying stock given their role in compounding returns over time. Historically, Arkema S.A. (EPA:AKE) has paid a dividend to shareholders. It currently yields 3.1%. Should it have a place in your portfolio? Let’s take a look at Arkema in more detail.
Check out our latest analysis for Arkema
5 checks you should do on a dividend stock
If you are a dividend investor, you should always assess these five key metrics:
Does it pay an annual yield higher than 75% of dividend payers?
Has its dividend been stable over the past (i.e. no missed payments or significant payout cuts)?
Has dividend per share risen in the past couple of years?
Does earnings amply cover its dividend payments?
Based on future earnings growth, will it be able to continue to payout dividend at the current rate?
How well does Arkema fit our criteria?
The company currently pays out 26% of its earnings as a dividend, according to its trailing twelve-month data, meaning the dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Going forward, analysts expect AKE’s payout to increase to 30% of its earnings. Assuming a constant share price, this equates to a dividend yield of around 3.7%. However, EPS is forecasted to fall to €8.71 in the upcoming year. Therefore, although payout is expected to increase, the fall in earnings may not equate to higher dividend income.
If you want to dive deeper into the sustainability of a certain payout ratio, you may wish to consider the cash flow of the business. Cash flow is important because companies with strong cash flow can usually sustain higher payout ratios.
If there is one thing that you want to be reliable in your life, it’s dividend stocks and their constant income stream. Whilst its per-share payments have increased during the past 10 years, there has been some hiccups. Shareholders would have seen a few years of reduced payments in this time.
In terms of its peers, Arkema produces a yield of 3.1%, which is high for Chemicals stocks but still below the market’s top dividend payers.
Next Steps:
Taking into account the dividend metrics, Arkema ticks most of the boxes as a strong dividend investment, putting it in my list of top dividend payers. Given that this is purely a dividend analysis, you should always research extensively before deciding whether or not a stock is an appropriate investment for you. I always recommend analysing the company’s fundamentals and underlying business before making an investment decision. I’ve put together three relevant aspects you should look at:
Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for AKE’s future growth? Take a look at our free research report of analyst consensus for AKE’s outlook.
Valuation: What is AKE worth today? Even if the stock is a cash cow, it’s not worth an infinite price. The intrinsic value infographic in our free research report helps visualize whether AKE is currently mispriced by the market.
Other Dividend Rockstars: Are there better dividend payers with stronger fundamentals out there? Check out our free list of these great stocks here.
To help readers see past the short term volatility of the financial market, we aim to bring you a long-term focused research analysis purely driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis does not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements.
The author is an independent contributor and at the time of publication had no position in the stocks mentioned. For errors that warrant correction please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com.
