ManTech International Corporation (NASDAQ:MANT): What You Have To Know Before Buying For The Upcoming Dividend
Important news for shareholders and potential investors in ManTech International Corporation (NASDAQ:MANT): The dividend payment of US$0.25 per share will be distributed into shareholder on 21 September 2018, and the stock will begin trading ex-dividend at an earlier date, 06 September 2018. Is this future income stream a compelling catalyst for dividend investors to think about the stock as an investment today? Let’s take a look at ManTech International’s most recent financial data to examine its dividend characteristics in more detail.
View our latest analysis for ManTech International
5 checks you should use to assess a dividend stock
If you are a dividend investor, you should always assess these five key metrics:
Is its annual yield among the top 25% of dividend-paying companies?
Has its dividend been stable over the past (i.e. no missed payments or significant payout cuts)?
Has the amount of dividend per share grown over the past?
Is is able to pay the current rate of dividends from its earnings?
Will it be able to continue to payout at the current rate in the future?
How well does ManTech International fit our criteria?
The company currently pays out 29.2% 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 MANT’s payout to increase to 41.9% of its earnings, which leads to a dividend yield of 1.5%. However, EPS is forecasted to fall to $2.17 in the upcoming year. Therefore, although payout is expected to increase, the fall in earnings may not equate to higher dividend income.
If dividend is a key criteria in your investment consideration, then you need to make sure the dividend stock you’re eyeing out is reliable in its payments. Unfortunately, it is really too early to view ManTech International as a dividend investment. It has only been consistently paying dividends for 7 years, however, standard practice for reliable payers is to look for a 10-year minimum track record.
In terms of its peers, ManTech International produces a yield of 1.5%, which is high for IT stocks but still below the market’s top dividend payers.
Next Steps:
Whilst there are few things you may like about ManTech International from a dividend stock perspective, the truth is that overall it probably is not the best choice for a dividend investor. However, if you are not strictly just a dividend investor, the stock could still offer some interesting investment opportunities. Given that this is purely a dividend analysis, I urge potential investors to try and get a good understanding of the underlying business and its fundamentals before deciding on an investment. There are three pertinent aspects you should further research:
Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for MANT’s future growth? Take a look at our free research report of analyst consensus for MANT’s outlook.
Valuation: What is MANT 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 MANT 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.
