This high yield is sustainable

Article Excerpt

EXTENDICARE INC. $7.22 remains a buy. The operator of long-term care (LTC) homes (Toronto symbol EXE; High-Growth Dividend Payer Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 84.4 million; Market cap: $609.4 million; Dividend yield: 6.6%; Dividend Sustainability Rating: Average; www.extendicare.com) continues to pay monthly distributions of $0.04 a share; the annual rate of $0.48 yields a very high 6.6%. Even so, those payments were a reasonable 49% of its cash flow in the latest quarter. Extendicare continues to benefit as the COVID-19 pandemic eases. The occupancy rate in the first quarter of 2023 at its long-term care homes rose to 95.1% from 90.8% a year earlier. That helped lift its revenue by 6.2%, to $324.7 million from $305.7 million. As well, thanks to the recovery of COVID-19-related costs, its cash flow jumped 66.4% in the quarter, to $20.8 million from $12.5 million. Due to fewer shares outstanding, cash flow per share gained 76.9%, to 0.23 from $0.13. Extendicare is a buy. buy. …