Yahoo Finance Is It Smart To Buy Boyd Gaming Corporation (NYSE:BYD) Before It Goes Ex-Dividend?
Readers hoping to buy Boyd Gaming Corporation (NYSE:BYD) for its dividend will need to make their move shortly, as the stock is about to trade ex-dividend. If you purchase the stock on or after the 26th of September, you won't be eligible to receive this dividend, when it is paid on the 15th of October.
Boyd Gaming's upcoming dividend is US$0.07 a share, following on from the last 12 months, when the company distributed a total of US$0.3 per share to shareholders. Based on the last year's worth of payments, Boyd Gaming has a trailing yield of 1.1% on the current stock price of $25.86. We love seeing companies pay a dividend, but it's also important to be sure that laying the golden eggs isn't going to kill our golden goose! We need to see whether the dividend is covered by earnings and if it's growing.
See our latest analysis for Boyd Gaming
Dividends are typically paid from company earnings. If a company pays more in dividends than it earned in profit, then the dividend could be unsustainable. Boyd Gaming is paying out just 22% of its profit after tax, which is comfortably low and leaves plenty of breathing room in the case of adverse events. Yet cash flows are even more important than profits for assessing a dividend, so we need to see if the company generated enough cash to pay its distribution. What's good is that dividends were well covered by free cash flow, with the company paying out 10% of its cash flow last year.
It's encouraging to see that the dividend is covered by both profit and cash flow. This generally suggests the dividend is sustainable, as long as earnings don't drop precipitously.
Click here to see the company's payout ratio, plus analyst estimates of its future dividends.
Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?
Companies with consistently growing earnings per share generally make the best dividend stocks, as they usually find it easier to grow dividends per share. If earnings decline and the company is forced to cut its dividend, investors could watch the value of their investment go up in smoke. That's why it's comforting to see Boyd Gaming's earnings have been skyrocketing, up 48% per annum for the past five years. With earnings per share growing rapidly and the company sensibly reinvesting almost all of its profits within the business, Boyd Gaming looks like a promising growth company.
Many investors will assess a company's dividend performance by evaluating how much the dividend payments have changed over time. Since the start of our data, two years ago, Boyd Gaming has lifted its dividend by approximately 18% a year on average. It's exciting to see that both earnings and dividends per share have grown rapidly over the past few years.
Final Takeaway
Is Boyd Gaming worth buying for its dividend? We love that Boyd Gaming is growing earnings per share while simultaneously paying out a low percentage of both its earnings and cash flow. These characteristics suggest the company is reinvesting in growing its business, while the conservative payout ratio also implies a reduced risk of the dividend being cut in the future. There's a lot to like about Boyd Gaming, and we would prioritise taking a closer look at it.
Ever wonder what the future holds for Boyd Gaming? See what the 13 analysts we track are forecasting, with this visualisation of its historical and future estimated earnings and cash flow
A common investment mistake is buying the first interesting stock you see. Here you can find a list of promising dividend stocks with a greater than 2% yield and an upcoming dividend.
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.
