Canterbury Park Holding Corporation (NASDAQ:CPHC) will pay a dividend of $0.07 on the 14th of January. This payment means that the dividend yield will be 1.9%, which is around the industry average.
Unless the payments are sustainable, the dividend yield doesn't mean too much. Even in the absence of profits, Canterbury Park Holding is paying a dividend. It is also not generating any free cash flow, we definitely have concerns when it comes to the sustainability of the dividend.
Over the next year, EPS might fall by 10.7% based on recent performance. This means the company will be unprofitable and managers could face the tough choice between continuing to pay the dividend or taking pressure off the balance sheet.
See our latest analysis for Canterbury Park Holding
The company has a long dividend track record, but it doesn't look great with cuts in the past. The annual payment during the last 10 years was $0.25 in 2015, and the most recent fiscal year payment was $0.28. This works out to be a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 1.1% a year over that time. It's encouraging to see some dividend growth, but the dividend has been cut at least once, and the size of the cut would eliminate most of the growth anyway, which makes this less attractive as an income investment.
With a relatively unstable dividend, it's even more important to see if earnings per share is growing. Over the past five years, it looks as though Canterbury Park Holding's EPS has declined at around 11% a year. Such rapid declines definitely have the potential to constrain dividend payments if the trend continues into the future.
Overall, this isn't a great candidate as an income investment, even though the dividend was stable this year. The company isn't making enough to be paying as much as it is, and the other factors don't look particularly promising either. Overall, the dividend is not reliable enough to make this a good income stock.
Market movements attest to how highly valued a consistent dividend policy is compared to one which is more unpredictable. However, there are other things to consider for investors when analysing stock performance. Just as an example, we've come across 3 warning signs for Canterbury Park Holding you should be aware of, and 2 of them are a bit unpleasant. Is Canterbury Park Holding not quite the opportunity you were looking for? Why not check out our selection of top dividend stocks.
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