Yahoo Finance Here's Why We're Wary Of Buying American Software's (NASDAQ:AMSW.A) For Its Upcoming Dividend
It looks like American Software, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMSW.A) is about to go ex-dividend in the next four days. If you purchase the stock on or after the 13th of August, you won't be eligible to receive this dividend, when it is paid on the 28th of August.
American Software's upcoming dividend is US$0.11 a share, following on from the last 12 months, when the company distributed a total of US$0.44 per share to shareholders. Based on the last year's worth of payments, American Software stock has a trailing yield of around 2.6% on the current share price of $17.16. If you buy this business for its dividend, you should have an idea of whether American Software's dividend is reliable and sustainable. So we need to investigate whether American Software can afford its dividend, and if the dividend could grow.
View our latest analysis for American Software
If a company pays out more in dividends than it earned, then the dividend might become unsustainable - hardly an ideal situation. An unusually high payout ratio of 207% of its profit suggests something is happening other than the usual distribution of profits to shareholders. Yet cash flow is typically more important than profit for assessing dividend sustainability, so we should always check if the company generated enough cash to afford its dividend. It paid out more than half (62%) of its free cash flow in the past year, which is within an average range for most companies.
It's disappointing to see that the dividend was not covered by profits, but cash is more important from a dividend sustainability perspective, and American Software fortunately did generate enough cash to fund its dividend. If executives were to continue paying more in dividends than the company reported in profits, we'd view this as a warning sign. Extraordinarily few companies are capable of persistently paying a dividend that is greater than their profits.
Click here to see the company's payout ratio, plus analyst estimates of its future dividends.
Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?
Companies with falling earnings are riskier for dividend shareholders. Investors love dividends, so if earnings fall and the dividend is reduced, expect a stock to be sold off heavily at the same time. Readers will understand then, why we're concerned to see American Software's earnings per share have dropped 5.9% a year over the past five years. Ultimately, when earnings per share decline, the size of the pie from which dividends can be paid, shrinks.
Another key way to measure a company's dividend prospects is by measuring its historical rate of dividend growth. In the past 10 years, American Software has increased its dividend at approximately 2.0% a year on average. That's intriguing, but the combination of growing dividends despite declining earnings can typically only be achieved by paying out a larger percentage of profits. American Software is already paying out a high percentage of its income, so without earnings growth, we're doubtful of whether this dividend will grow much in the future.
To Sum It Up
Is American Software worth buying for its dividend? It's never fun to see a company's earnings per share in retreat. What's more, American Software is paying out a majority of its earnings and over half its free cash flow. It's hard to say if the business has the financial resources and time to turn things around without cutting the dividend. Overall it doesn't look like the most suitable dividend stock for a long-term buy and hold investor.
Although, if you're still interested in American Software and want to know more, you'll find it very useful to know what risks this stock faces. For example - American Software has 2 warning signs we think you should be aware of.
We wouldn't recommend just buying the first dividend stock you see, though. Here's a list of interesting dividend stocks with a greater than 2% yield and an upcoming dividend.
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. 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.
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