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Should Income Investors Look At JB Hi-Fi Limited (ASX:JBH) Before Its Ex-Dividend?

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JB Hi-Fi Limited (ASX:JBH) stock is about to trade ex-dividend in three 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 an important date to be aware of as any purchase of the stock made on or after this date might mean a late settlement that doesn't show on the record date. Therefore, if you purchase JB Hi-Fi's shares on or after the 26th of August, you won't be eligible to receive the dividend, when it is paid on the 10th of September.

The company's next dividend payment will be AU$1.07 per share, and in the last 12 months, the company paid a total of AU$2.87 per share. Calculating the last year's worth of payments shows that JB Hi-Fi has a trailing yield of 5.9% on the current share price of A$48.47. Dividends are a major contributor to investment returns for long term holders, but only if the dividend continues to be paid. As a result, readers should always check whether JB Hi-Fi has been able to grow its dividends, or if the dividend might be cut.

View our latest analysis for JB Hi-Fi

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. JB Hi-Fi paid out 65% of its earnings to investors last year, a normal payout level for most businesses. 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. Over the last year it paid out 62% of its free cash flow as dividends, within the usual range for most companies.




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 JB Hi-Fi's earnings have been skyrocketing, up 24% per annum for the past five years. Management appears to be striking a nice balance between reinvesting for growth and paying dividends to shareholders. Earnings per share have been growing quickly and in combination with some reinvestment and a middling payout ratio, the stock may have decent dividend prospects going forwards.

Many investors will assess a company's dividend performance by evaluating how much the dividend payments have changed over time. JB Hi-Fi has delivered an average of 12% per year annual increase in its dividend, based on the past 10 years of dividend payments. Both per-share earnings and dividends have both been growing rapidly in recent times, which is great to see.

To Sum It Up

Is JB Hi-Fi an attractive dividend stock, or better left on the shelf? Higher earnings per share generally lead to higher dividends from dividend-paying stocks over the long run. However, we'd also note that JB Hi-Fi is paying out more than half of its earnings and cash flow as profits, which could limit the dividend growth if earnings growth slows. In summary, it's hard to get excited about JB Hi-Fi from a dividend perspective.

With that in mind, a critical part of thorough stock research is being aware of any risks that stock currently faces. For example, JB Hi-Fi has 2 warning signs (and 1 which is concerning) we think you should know about.


