The ins and outs of … high-yield danger signs

Article Excerpt

High dividend yields are very attractive to income-seeking investors, especially right now. But you still need to be cautious. Interest rates are near historic lows, and investors still earn low returns on their fixed-return investments. This leads some to buy high-yield stocks indiscriminately, without looking too closely to see if a yield is high because investors wonder how long the company can keep paying its current dividend. When a high-yield stock cuts its dividend, the stock’s price generally drops. This may be a temporary setback. Or, it may be the first concrete appearance of the potential risk that the high yield hinted at. Remember, the formula for dividend yield is dividend/stock price. The yield went up because the stock price (the bottom number in the fraction) went down. The stock price went down because investors collectively saw a long-term risk in the stock. If the dividend cut is the first concrete sign of the risk that investors foresaw, it can set off a..