MoneyMaaster’s May Roundup: 3 stocks release earnings – all 3 reported dividend increases!

Although my mind has been 100% completely wrapped up in this EPIC Winnipeg Jet’s playoff run – I did notice that the following 3 companies all decided to give me nice dividend raise this month!

1. Western Forest
2. Algonquin Power
3. Power Corp

Western Forest

Western Forest is a lumber company based in BC.  I purchased this company in January after taking some profit on a few marijuana companies.   You can read that post HERE which explains why.  In January I wrote this:

“The dividend hasn’t grown in 5 years which is a slight concern, although with a payout ratio under 40% there seems to be some room to grow it in the future as long as revenues keep increasing and they can control their costs.”

From the press release on May 2nd:

• The Company increased first quarter revenue despite the current suspension of its export log sales program in support of supplying logs to its coastal sawmills.

  • Delivered adjusted EBITDA of $43.0 million, a 26% increase from the same period last year

  • Announced a 12.5% increase in our quarterly dividend to $0.0225 per common share

Nothing to complain about here.  Although I don’t own a huge position in this company, it is one I plan on adding to.  With the 12.5% dividend increase, WEF now pays me $47.25 per year- which I am happy to keep dripping into new shares.  I’d like to at least double my position in this company by the end of the year.

Algonquin Power

Algonquin Power is a Utility company that has a strong focus on renewable energy.  Algonquin has been growing and expanding across North America and more recently into Europe (mostly by acquisitions)  AQN is also my largest holding in my TFSA.  With the most recent drip I now own 876 shares.  I’ve been a big fan of this company for a while now, and have purchased it on 3 separate occasions.

Yesterday Algonquin released their first quarter results – and much like Western Forest the results looked…

Q1 2018 Financial Highlights

• Revenue of U.S.$494.8 million, a year-over-year increase of 17%
• Adjusted EBITDA¹ of U.S.$279.2 million, a year-over-year increase of 45%
• Adjusted net earnings¹ per share of U.S.$0.32, a year-over-year increase of 68%
• Adjusted Funds from Operations¹ of U.S.$179.9 million, a year-over-year increase of 15%

Almost as importantly Algonquin also announced a 10% dividend increase!  They bumped up their dividend from $0.1165 to $.1282(USD).  Based on my current shares this gives me a yearly raise of $41.00 and pushes my annual payment from Algonquin to $560.64!  The best part is – at the current share price, this means I can DRIP an extra share each quarter too!

POWER CORP

Power Corp was another company I purchased after offloading some marijuana stocks.  At the time my reasoning was I wanted a “set it and forget it” stock.  This is exactly what Power Corp is.  Although there may not be much room for capital growth on this stock, the dividends are more than safe – and have now (as of today) been increased for 4 consecutive years.  Just a few minutes ago Power Corp released their earnings, along with the announcement of a 6.6% dividend increase!

From the press release:

• Net earnings increased 21% to 586 million in the first quarter
• Beat expectations and earned 1.13 per share
• Adjusted profit grew by 17%
• Announced a 6.6% increase to dividend.

The dividend has been increased from .3585 per quarter to .3820.  This works out to an extra $18.99 per year and brings my total annual payments from Power Corp to $308.56.

 

I’d say a pretty good way to start the Month of May!  Even better considering the Jets just eliminated the # 1 team in the NHL and are now the odds on favorite to win the Stanley Cup!

Advertisement