Yahoo Finance Don't Race Out To Buy Pizza Pizza Royalty Corp. (TSE:PZA) Just Because It's Going Ex-Dividend
Pizza Pizza Royalty Corp. (TSE:PZA) stock is about to trade ex-dividend in 3 days. Typically, the ex-dividend date is one business day before the record date which is the date on which a company determines the shareholders eligible to receive a dividend. The ex-dividend date is of consequence because whenever a stock is bought or sold, the trade takes at least two business day to settle. In other words, investors can purchase Pizza Pizza Royalty's shares before the 28th of September in order to be eligible for the dividend, which will be paid on the 15th of October.
The company's upcoming dividend is CA$0.06 a share, following on from the last 12 months, when the company distributed a total of CA$0.64 per share to shareholders. Calculating the last year's worth of payments shows that Pizza Pizza Royalty has a trailing yield of 5.3% on the current share price of CA$11.49. Dividends are an important source of income to many shareholders, but the health of the business is crucial to maintaining those dividends. We need to see whether the dividend is covered by earnings and if it's growing.
Check out our latest analysis for Pizza Pizza Royalty
Dividends are typically paid out of company income, so if a company pays out more than it earned, its dividend is usually at a higher risk of being cut. It paid out 89% of its earnings as dividends last year, which is not unreasonable, but limits reinvestment in the business and leaves the dividend vulnerable to a business downturn. We'd be worried about the risk of a drop in earnings. 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. The company paid out 90% of its free cash flow over the last year, which we think is outside the ideal range for most businesses. Cash flows are usually much more volatile than earnings, so this could be a temporary effect - but we'd generally want look more closely here.
While Pizza Pizza Royalty's dividends were covered by the company's reported profits, cash is somewhat more important, so it's not great to see that the company didn't generate enough cash to pay its dividend. Were this to happen repeatedly, this would be a risk to Pizza Pizza Royalty's ability to maintain its dividend.
Click here to see how much of its profit Pizza Pizza Royalty paid out over the last 12 months.
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. So we're not too excited that Pizza Pizza Royalty's earnings are down 2.7% a year over the past five years.
Another key way to measure a company's dividend prospects is by measuring its historical rate of dividend growth. Pizza Pizza Royalty's dividend payments per share have declined at 4.2% per year on average over the past 10 years, which is uninspiring. While it's not great that earnings and dividends per share have fallen in recent years, we're encouraged by the fact that management has trimmed the dividend rather than risk over-committing the company in a risky attempt to maintain yields to shareholders.
Final Takeaway
From a dividend perspective, should investors buy or avoid Pizza Pizza Royalty? It's definitely not great to see earnings per share shrinking. The company paid out an acceptable percentage of its income, but an uncomfortably high percentage of its cash flow over the past year. It's not that we think Pizza Pizza Royalty is a bad company, but these characteristics don't generally lead to outstanding dividend performance.
Although, if you're still interested in Pizza Pizza Royalty and want to know more, you'll find it very useful to know what risks this stock faces. Our analysis shows 2 warning signs for Pizza Pizza Royalty that we strongly recommend you have a look at before investing in the company.
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. 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.
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