Sometimes investors must look a little off the beaten path for sustainable high yields.
Take Bombardier Inc. (TSX:BBD.B) as an example. The maker of planes and trains eliminated the dividend on its common shares in 2015 after it was obvious its new line of CSeries planes would take far more capital than first assumed.
Even before the dividend was axed for good, most investors didn’t think of Bombardier as an income stock. It just happened to pay a dividend.
If we think outside of the box a little, Bombardier becomes one of the market’s most attractive dividend stocks.
The company has a number of different preferred shares that happen to pay succulent yields. Let’s highlight the Series 4 preferred shares, which trade under the ticker symbol BBD.PR.C.
These preferred shares have traded since 2002, paying the same $0.39 per share quarterly dividend. Shares currently yield 8.6%, which is one of the best yields you’ll find.
This particular preferred share is a perpetual preferred, which means it will pay the same dividend as long as it is outstanding.
Preferred shares certainly don’t come with the upside potential associated with the common shares. Think of them more like debt rather than equity. But they should continue to recover as investors get more confident with Bombardier’s turnaround plan.
Remember, the responsibility associated with the preferred shares isn’t much for a company as large as Bombardier. It paid just $17 million U.S. in dividends in 2016, versus a market cap of over $5 billion.
It isn’t easy to find a yield of close to 9% today, but Bombardier’s preferred shares deliver.
