The board of CR Construction Group Holdings Limited (HKG:1582) has announced that it will pay a dividend on the 24th of July, with investors receiving HK$0.018 per share. This makes the dividend yield 7.7%, which will augment investor returns quite nicely.
A big dividend yield for a few years doesn't mean much if it can't be sustained. Before making this announcement, CR Construction Group Holdings was easily earning enough to cover the dividend. As a result, a large proportion of what it earned was being reinvested back into the business.
Unless the company can turn things around, EPS could fall by 6.4% over the next year. If the dividend continues along recent trends, we estimate the payout ratio could be 27%, which we consider to be quite comfortable, with most of the company's earnings left over to grow the business in the future.
Check out our latest analysis for CR Construction Group Holdings
It's comforting to see that CR Construction Group Holdings has been paying a dividend for a number of years now, however it has been cut at least once in that time. This suggests that the dividend might not be the most reliable. The dividend has gone from an annual total of HK$0.05 in 2020 to the most recent total annual payment of HK$0.033. This works out to be a decline of approximately 8.0% per year over that time. Generally, we don't like to see a dividend that has been declining over time as this can degrade shareholders' returns and indicate that the company may be running into problems.
With a relatively unstable dividend, and a poor history of shrinking dividends, it's even more important to see if EPS is growing. CR Construction Group Holdings has seen earnings per share falling at 6.4% per year over the last five years. If the company is making less over time, it naturally follows that it will also have to pay out less in dividends.
Overall, we don't think this company makes a great dividend stock, even though the dividend wasn't cut this year. The payments haven't been particularly stable and we don't see huge growth potential, but with the dividend well covered by cash flows it could prove to be reliable over the short term. This company is not in the top tier of income providing stocks.
Investors generally tend to favour companies with a consistent, stable dividend policy as opposed to those operating an irregular one. At the same time, there are other factors our readers should be conscious of before pouring capital into a stock. Just as an example, we've come across 5 warning signs for CR Construction Group Holdings you should be aware of, and 2 of them are a bit concerning. If you are a dividend investor, you might also want to look at our curated list of high yield dividend stocks.
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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.