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Cummins (CMI) Could Be a Great Choice

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Whether it's through stocks, bonds, ETFs, or other types of securities, all investors love seeing their portfolios score big returns. But 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 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 make up large portions of long-term returns, and in many cases, dividend contributions surpass one-third of total returns.

Cummins in Focus

Headquartered in Columbus, Cummins (CMI - Free Report) is an Auto-Tires-Trucks stock that has seen a price change of 2.52% so far this year. The engine maker is currently shelling out a dividend of $1.57 per share, with a dividend yield of 2.53%. This compares to the Automotive - Internal Combustion Engines industry's yield of 1.04% and the S&P 500's yield of 1.65%.

In terms of dividend growth, the company's current annualized dividend of $6.28 is up 4% from last year. In the past five-year period, Cummins has increased its dividend 5 times on a year-over-year basis for an average annual increase of 7.42%. Future dividend growth will depend on earnings growth as well as payout ratio, which is the proportion of a company's annual earnings per share that it pays out as a dividend. Cummins's current payout ratio is 35%. This means it paid out 35% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.

Earnings growth looks solid for CMI for this fiscal year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2023 is $19.80 per share, which represents a year-over-year growth rate of 30.95%.

Bottom Line

Investors like dividends for a variety of different reasons, from tax advantages and decreasing overall portfolio risk to considerably improving stock investing profits. But, not every company offers a quarterly payout.

Big, established firms that have more secure profits are often seen as the best dividend options, but it's fairly uncommon to see high-growth businesses or tech start-ups offer their stockholders a dividend. During periods of rising interest rates, income investors must be mindful that high-yielding stocks tend to struggle. With that in mind, CMI 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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