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Are You Looking for a High-Growth Dividend Stock?

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Getting big returns from financial portfolios, whether through stocks, bonds, ETFs, other securities, or a combination of all, is an investor's dream. However, when you're an income investor, your primary focus is generating consistent cash flow from each of your liquid investments.

While cash flow can come from bond interest or interest from other types of investments, income investors hone in on dividends. A dividend is that coveted distribution of a company's earnings paid out to shareholders, and investors often view it by its dividend yield, a metric that measures the dividend as a percent of the current stock price. Many academic studies show that dividends account for significant portions of long-term returns, with dividend contributions exceeding one-third of total returns in many cases.

Sonic Automotive (SAH - Free Report) is headquartered in Charlotte, and is in the Retail-Wholesale sector. The stock has seen a price change of 18.3% since the start of the year. Currently paying a dividend of $0.38 per share, the company has a dividend yield of 2.03%. In comparison, the Automotive - Retail and Whole Sales industry's yield is 0.22%, while the S&P 500's yield is 1.54%.

Looking at dividend growth, the company's current annualized dividend of $1.52 is up 21.6% from last year. Over the last 5 years, Sonic Automotive has increased its dividend 5 times on a year-over-year basis for an average annual increase of 33.71%. Looking ahead, future dividend growth will be dependent on earnings growth and payout ratio, which is the proportion of a company's annual earnings per share that it pays out as a dividend. Sonic Automotive's current payout ratio is 22%, meaning it paid out 22% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.

Earnings growth looks solid for SAH for this fiscal year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2025 is $7.14 per share, with earnings expected to increase 27.50% from the year ago period.

Investors like dividends for a variety of different reasons, from tax advantages and decreasing overall portfolio risk to considerably improving stock investing profits. However, not all companies offer a quarterly payout.

High-growth firms or tech start-ups, for example, rarely provide their shareholders a dividend, while larger, more established companies that have more secure profits are often seen as the best dividend options. Income investors have to be mindful of the fact that high-yielding stocks tend to struggle during periods of rising interest rates. With that in mind, SAH presents a compelling investment opportunity; it's not only an attractive dividend play, but the stock also boasts a strong Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).


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