Rigaku Holdings Corporation's (TSE:268A) investors are due to receive a payment of ¥9.40 per share on 13th of March. The payment will take the dividend yield to 1.6%, which is in line with the average for the industry.
We aren't too impressed by dividend yields unless they can be sustained over time. Based on the last payment, Rigaku Holdings was paying only paying out a fraction of earnings, but the payment was a massive 111% of cash flows. While the business may be attempting to set a balanced dividend policy, a cash payout ratio this high might expose the dividend to being cut if the business ran into some challenges.
The next year is set to see EPS grow by 17.8%. If the dividend continues on this path, the payout ratio could be 41% by next year, which we think can be pretty sustainable going forward.
View our latest analysis for Rigaku Holdings
It's not possible for us to make a backward looking judgement just based on a short payment history. This doesn't mean that the company can't pay a good dividend, but just that we want to wait until it can prove itself.
Investors who have held shares in the company for the past few years will be happy with the dividend income they have received. Rigaku Holdings has impressed us by growing EPS at 57% per year over the past five years. Earnings have been growing rapidly, and with a low payout ratio we think that the company could turn out to be a great dividend stock.
Overall, this is probably not a great income stock, even though the dividend is being raised at the moment. While the low payout ratio is a redeeming feature, this is offset by the minimal cash to cover the payments. This company is not in the top tier of income providing stocks.
Companies possessing a stable dividend policy will likely enjoy greater investor interest than those suffering from a more inconsistent approach. However, there are other things to consider for investors when analysing stock performance. For example, we've picked out 1 warning sign for Rigaku Holdings that investors should know about before committing capital to this stock. 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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