Dividends look solid despite cyclical risk

Article Excerpt

These two firms mainly serve clients in highly cyclical industries such as mining and construction. However, their high-quality businesses will let them continue their long record of annual dividend hikes. FINNING INTERNATIONAL INC. $37 is a buy. The company (Toronto symbol FTT; Cyclical-Growth Payer Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 139.5 million; Market cap: $5.2 billion; Dividend yield: 3.0%; Dividend Sustainability Rating: Above Average; www.finning.com) sells and services Caterpillar-brand heavy equipment in Western Canada but also Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, the U.K. and Ireland. Its main customers are in the oil and gas, mining, forestry-products and construction industries. With the June 2024 payment, Finning raised your quarterly dividend by 10.0%, to $0.275 from $0.25 a share. The new annual rate of $1.10 a share yields 3.0%. The company has now raised the dividend each year for the past 23 years. Overall revenue in the three months ended September 30, 2024, gained 4.2%, to $2.54 billion from $2.44 billion a year earlier. The lower revenue is mainly due…