Lifetime Brands, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:LCUT) investors are due to receive a payment of $0.0425 per share on 15th of May. Based on this payment, the dividend yield will be 1.8%, which is fairly typical for the industry.

Check out our latest analysis for Lifetime Brands

Lifetime Brands' Distributions May Be Difficult To Sustain

Unless the payments are sustainable, the dividend yield doesn't mean too much. While Lifetime Brands is not profitable, it is paying out less than 75% of its free cash flow, which means that there is plenty left over for reinvestment into the business. This gives us some comfort about the level of the dividend payments.

Looking forward, earnings per share is forecast to expand by 39.0% over the next year. While it is good to see income moving in the right direction, it still looks like the company won't achieve profitability. The positive free cash flows give us some comfort, however, that the dividend could continue to be sustained.

Lifetime Brands Has A Solid Track Record

The company has an extended history of paying stable dividends. The annual payment during the last 10 years was $0.125 in 2014, and the most recent fiscal year payment was $0.17. This works out to be a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 3.1% a year over that time. Slow and steady dividend growth might not sound that exciting, but dividends have been stable for ten years, which we think makes this a fairly attractive offer.

The Company Could Face Some Challenges Growing The Dividend

Investors could be attracted to the stock based on the quality of its payment history. Lifetime Brands has seen EPS rising for the last five years, at 18% per annum. It's not an ideal situation that the company isn't turning a profit but the growth recently is a positive sign. If the company can become profitable soon, continuing on this trajectory would bode well for the future of the dividend.

In Summary

Overall, we don't think this company makes a great dividend stock, even though the dividend wasn't cut this year. The company has been bring in plenty of cash to cover the dividend, but we don't necessarily think that makes it a great dividend stock. We don't think Lifetime Brands is a great stock to add to your portfolio if income is your focus.

Investors generally tend to favour companies with a consistent, stable dividend policy as opposed to those operating an irregular one. Meanwhile, despite the importance of dividend payments, they are not the only factors our readers should know when assessing a company. For example, we've identified 3 warning signs for Lifetime Brands (1 makes us a bit uncomfortable!) that you should be aware of before investing. If you are a dividend investor, you might also want to look at our curated list of high yield dividend stocks.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.

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.