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Why Cheniere Energy Partners, LP (CQP) is a Great 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. But for income investors, generating consistent cash flow from each of your liquid investments is your primary focus.

While cash flow can come from bond interest or interest from other types of investments, income investors hone in on dividends. A dividend is the distribution of a company's earnings paid out to shareholders; it's often viewed by its dividend yield, a metric that measures a 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.

Cheniere Energy Partners, LP in Focus

Cheniere Energy Partners, LP (CQP - Free Report) is headquartered in Houston, and is in the Oils-Energy sector. The stock has seen a price change of 28.51% since the start of the year. The company is currently shelling out a dividend of $0.56 per share, with a dividend yield of 5.88%. This compares to the Oil and Gas - Production and Pipelines industry's yield of 5.39% and the S&P 500's yield of 1.77%.

In terms of dividend growth, the company's current annualized dividend of $2.24 is up 73.6% from last year. Over the last 5 years, Cheniere Energy Partners, LP has increased its dividend 1 times on a year-over-year basis for an average annual increase of 1.34%. Any future dividend growth will depend on both earnings growth and the company's payout ratio; a payout ratio is the proportion of a firm's annual earnings per share that it pays out as a dividend. Cheniere Energy Partners, LP's current payout ratio is 250%, meaning it paid out 250% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.

Earnings growth looks solid for CQP for this fiscal year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2018 is $2.39 per share, with earnings expected to increase 281.06% from the year ago period.

Bottom Line

From greatly improving stock investing profits and reducing overall portfolio risk to providing tax advantages, investors like dividends for a variety of different reasons. But, not every company offers 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. During periods of rising interest rates, income investors must be mindful that high-yielding stocks tend to struggle. With that in mind, CQP presents a compelling investment opportunity; it's not only an attractive dividend play, but the stock also boasts a strong Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).


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