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Are You Looking for a High-Growth Dividend Stock?

Whether it's through stocks, bonds, ETFs, or other types of securities, all investors love seeing their portfolios score big returns. 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.

World Fuel Services in Focus

Based in Miami, World Fuel Services (INT) is in the Oils-Energy sector, and so far this year, shares have seen a price change of -10.84%. The company that services ships, jets and trucks is paying out a dividend of $0.14 per share at the moment, with a dividend yield of 2.37% compared to the Oil and Gas - Refining and Marketing industry's yield of 2.17% and the S&P 500's yield of 1.83%.

Looking at dividend growth, the company's current annualized dividend of $0.56 is up 16.7% from last year. World Fuel Services has increased its dividend 2 times on a year-over-year basis over the last 5 years for an average annual increase of 20.43%. 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. Right now, World Fuel Services's payout ratio is 33%, which means it paid out 33% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.

INT is expecting earnings to expand this fiscal year as well. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2022 is $2.03 per share, representing a year-over-year earnings growth rate of 49.26%.

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. However, not all companies offer a quarterly payout.

For instance, it's a rare occurrence when a tech start-up or big growth business offers their shareholders a dividend. It's more common to see larger companies with more established profits give out dividends. During periods of rising interest rates, income investors must be mindful that high-yielding stocks tend to struggle. That said, they can take comfort from the fact that INT is not only an attractive dividend play, but is also a compelling investment opportunity with a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).


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