Don't Race Out To Buy High Arctic Energy Services Inc (TSE:HWO) Just Because It's Going Ex-Dividend

Regular readers will know that we love our dividends at Simply Wall St, which is why it's exciting to see High Arctic Energy Services Inc (TSE:HWO) is about to trade ex-dividend in the next 4 days. The ex-dividend date is usually set to be one business day before the record date which is the cut-off date on which you must be present on the company's books as a shareholder in order to receive the dividend. The ex-dividend date is important because any transaction on a stock needs to have been settled before the record date in order to be eligible for a dividend. Accordingly, High Arctic Energy Services investors that purchase the stock on or after the 30th of May will not receive the dividend, which will be paid on the 14th of June.

The company's next dividend payment will be CA$0.005 per share, on the back of last year when the company paid a total of CA$0.06 to shareholders. Based on the last year's worth of payments, High Arctic Energy Services has a trailing yield of 4.7% on the current stock price of CA$1.29. Dividends are a major contributor to investment returns for long term holders, but only if the dividend continues to be paid. So we need to investigate whether High Arctic Energy Services can afford its dividend, and if the dividend could grow.

See our latest analysis for High Arctic Energy Services

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. High Arctic Energy Services reported a loss after tax last year, which means it's paying a dividend despite being unprofitable. While this might be a one-off event, this is unlikely to be sustainable in the long term. Given that the company reported a loss last year, we now need to see if it generated enough free cash flow to fund the dividend. If High Arctic Energy Services didn't generate enough cash to pay the dividend, then it must have either paid from cash in the bank or by borrowing money, neither of which is sustainable in the long term. Dividends consumed 58% of the company's free cash flow last year, which is within a normal range for most dividend-paying organisations.

Click here to see how much of its profit High Arctic Energy Services paid out over the last 12 months.

historic-dividend

Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?

Businesses with shrinking earnings are tricky from a dividend perspective. If earnings decline and the company is forced to cut its dividend, investors could watch the value of their investment go up in smoke. High Arctic Energy Services was unprofitable last year and, unfortunately, the general trend suggests its earnings have been in decline over the last five years, making us wonder if the dividend is sustainable at all.

Many investors will assess a company's dividend performance by evaluating how much the dividend payments have changed over time. High Arctic Energy Services's dividend payments per share have declined at 6.7% per year on average over the past 10 years, which is uninspiring. 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.

Remember, you can always get a snapshot of High Arctic Energy Services's financial health, by checking our visualisation of its financial health, here.

To Sum It Up

From a dividend perspective, should investors buy or avoid High Arctic Energy Services? First, it's not great to see the company paying a dividend despite being loss-making over the last year. On the plus side, the dividend was covered by free cash flow." Overall it doesn't look like the most suitable dividend stock for a long-term buy and hold investor.

With that being said, if you're still considering High Arctic Energy Services as an investment, you'll find it beneficial to know what risks this stock is facing. Be aware that High Arctic Energy Services is showing 3 warning signs in our investment analysis, and 1 of those can't be ignored...

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

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.

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.

Join A Paid User Research Session
You’ll receive a US$30 Amazon Gift card for 1 hour of your time while helping us build better investing tools for the individual investors like yourself. Sign up here