Should You Buy Constellation Brands Inc (NYSE:STZ) For Its Dividend?
A sizeable part of portfolio returns can be produced by dividend stocks due to their contribution to compounding returns in the long run. Over the past 3 years, Constellation Brands Inc (NYSE:STZ) has returned an average of 1.00% per year to shareholders in terms of dividend yield. Does Constellation Brands tick all the boxes of a great dividend stock? Below, I’ll take you through my analysis.
Check out our latest analysis for Constellation Brands
5 checks you should use to assess a dividend stock
When assessing a stock as a potential addition to my dividend Portfolio, I look at these five areas:
Is it paying an annual yield above 75% of dividend payers?
Has it consistently paid a stable dividend without missing a payment or drastically cutting payout?
Has dividend per share amount increased over the past?
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 does Constellation Brands fare?
Constellation Brands has a trailing twelve-month payout ratio of 16.74%, which means that the dividend is covered by earnings. In the near future, analysts are predicting a higher payout ratio of 30.96%, leading to a dividend yield of 1.61%. However, EPS is forecasted to fall to $10.57 in the upcoming year. Therefore, although payout is expected to increase, the fall in earnings may not equate to higher dividend income.
If there is one thing that you want to be reliable in your life, it’s dividend stocks and their constant income stream. Unfortunately, it is really too early to view Constellation Brands as a dividend investment. It has only been consistently paying dividends for 3 years, however, standard practice for reliable payers is to look for a 10-year minimum track record.
Relative to peers, Constellation Brands generates a yield of 1.45%, which is on the low-side for Beverage stocks.
Next Steps:
After digging a little deeper into Constellation Brands’s yield, it’s easy to see why you should be cautious investing in the company just for the dividend. On the other hand, if you are not strictly just a dividend investor, the stock could still be offering some interesting investment opportunities. 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. There are three pertinent factors you should further examine:
Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for STZ’s future growth? Take a look at our free research report of analyst consensus for STZ’s outlook.
Valuation: What is STZ 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 STZ is currently mispriced by the market.
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.
