Shareholders Are Loving John B. Sanfilippo & Son, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:JBSS) 3.6% Yield
Could John B. Sanfilippo & Son, Inc. (NASDAQ:JBSS) be an attractive dividend share to own for the long haul? Investors are often drawn to strong companies with the idea of reinvesting the dividends. On the other hand, investors have been known to buy a stock because of its yield, and then lose money if the company's dividend doesn't live up to expectations.
With a goodly-sized dividend yield despite a relatively short payment history, investors might be wondering if John B. Sanfilippo & Son is a new dividend aristocrat in the making. We'd agree the yield does look enticing. When buying stocks for their dividends, you should always run through the checks below, to see if the dividend looks sustainable.
Click the interactive chart for our full dividend analysis
Payout ratios
Dividends are typically paid from company earnings. If a company pays more in dividends than it earned, then the dividend might become unsustainable - hardly an ideal situation. So we need to form a view on if a company's dividend is sustainable, relative to its net profit after tax. John B. Sanfilippo & Son paid out 19% of its profit as dividends, over the trailing twelve month period. With a low payout ratio, it looks like the dividend is comprehensively covered by earnings.
In addition to comparing dividends against profits, we should inspect whether the company generated enough cash to pay its dividend. Of the free cash flow it generated last year, John B. Sanfilippo & Son paid out 49% as dividends, suggesting the dividend is affordable. It's positive to see that John B. Sanfilippo & Son's dividend is covered by both profits and cash flow, since this is generally a sign that the dividend is sustainable, and a lower payout ratio usually suggests a greater margin of safety before the dividend gets cut.
Remember, you can always get a snapshot of John B. Sanfilippo & Son's latest financial position, by checking our visualisation of its financial health.
Dividend Volatility
From the perspective of an income investor who wants to earn dividends for many years, there is not much point buying a stock if its dividend is regularly cut or is not reliable. John B. Sanfilippo & Son has been paying a dividend for the past five years. During the past five-year period, the first annual payment was US$1.50 in 2014, compared to US$3.00 last year. Dividends per share have grown at approximately 15% per year over this time. John B. Sanfilippo & Son's dividend payments have fluctuated, so it hasn't grown 15% every year, but the CAGR is a useful rule of thumb for approximating the historical growth.
John B. Sanfilippo & Son has grown distributions at a rapid rate despite cutting the dividend at least once in the past. Companies that cut once often cut again, but it might be worth considering if the business has turned a corner.
Dividend Growth Potential
With a relatively unstable dividend, it's even more important to see if earnings per share (EPS) are growing. Why take the risk of a dividend getting cut, unless there's a good chance of bigger dividends in future? John B. Sanfilippo & Son has grown its earnings per share at 8.1% per annum over the past five years. A low payout ratio and strong historical earnings growth suggests John B. Sanfilippo & Son has been effectively reinvesting in its business. We think this generally bodes well for its dividend prospects.
Conclusion
To summarise, shareholders should always check that John B. Sanfilippo & Son's dividends are affordable, that its dividend payments are relatively stable, and that it has decent prospects for growing its earnings and dividend. Firstly, we like that John B. Sanfilippo & Son has low and conservative payout ratios. Next, earnings growth has been good, but unfortunately the dividend has been cut at least once in the past. Overall we think John B. Sanfilippo & Son scores well on our analysis. It's not quite perfect, but we'd definitely be keen to take a closer look.
See if management have their own wealth at stake, by checking insider shareholdings in John B. Sanfilippo & Son stock.
If you are a dividend investor, you might also want to look at our curated list of dividend stocks yielding above 3%.
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.
