Some investors rely on dividends for growing their wealth, and if you're one of those dividend sleuths, you might be intrigued to know that China Resources Medical Holdings Company Limited (HKG:1515) is about to go ex-dividend in just three days. The ex-dividend date is one business day before the record date, which is the cut-off date for shareholders to be present on the company's books to be eligible for a dividend payment. The ex-dividend date is important as the process of settlement involves two full business days. So if you miss that date, you would not show up on the company's books on the record date. Accordingly, China Resources Medical Holdings investors that purchase the stock on or after the 7th of June will not receive the dividend, which will be paid on the 19th of July.

The company's next dividend payment will be CN¥0.06 per share, and in the last 12 months, the company paid a total of CN¥0.06 per share. Based on the last year's worth of payments, China Resources Medical Holdings stock has a trailing yield of around 1.7% on the current share price of HK$3.82. If you buy this business for its dividend, you should have an idea of whether China Resources Medical Holdings's dividend is reliable and sustainable. So we need to check whether the dividend payments are covered, and if earnings are growing.

Dividends are usually paid out of company profits, so if a company pays out more than it earned then its dividend is usually at greater risk of being cut. China Resources Medical Holdings paid out a comfortable 29% of its profit last year. Yet cash flows are even more important than profits for assessing a dividend, so we need to see if the company generated enough cash to pay its distribution. What's good is that dividends were well covered by free cash flow, with the company paying out 6.0% of its cash flow last year.

It's encouraging to see that the dividend is covered by both profit and cash flow. This generally suggests the dividend is sustainable, as long as earnings don't drop precipitously.

Click here to see the company's payout ratio, plus analyst estimates of its future dividends.

Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?

Businesses with shrinking earnings are tricky from a dividend perspective. Investors love dividends, so if earnings fall and the dividend is reduced, expect a stock to be sold off heavily at the same time. Readers will understand then, why we're concerned to see China Resources Medical Holdings's earnings per share have dropped 10% a year over the past five years. Such a sharp decline casts doubt on the future sustainability of the dividend.

The main way most investors will assess a company's dividend prospects is by checking the historical rate of dividend growth. In the past 10 years, China Resources Medical Holdings has increased its dividend at approximately 1.3% a year on average.

The Bottom Line

Has China Resources Medical Holdings got what it takes to maintain its dividend payments? Earnings per share are down meaningfully, although at least the company is paying out a low and conservative percentage of both its earnings and cash flow. It's definitely not great to see earnings falling, but at least there may be some buffer before the dividend needs to be cut. Overall, it's not a bad combination, but we feel that there are likely more attractive dividend prospects out there.

In light of that, while China Resources Medical Holdings has an appealing dividend, it's worth knowing the risks involved with this stock. To help with this, we've discovered 2 warning signs for China Resources Medical Holdings that you should be aware of before investing in their shares.

If you're in the market for strong dividend payers, we recommend checking our selection of top dividend stocks.

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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.