Canadian Imperial Bank (CM) Could Be a Great Choice

Getting big returns from financial portfolios, whether through stocks, bonds, ETFs, other securities, or a combination of all, is an investor's dream. But when you're an income investor, your primary focus is generating consistent cash flow from each of your liquid investments.

Cash flow can come from bond interest, interest from other types of investments, and, of course, dividends. A dividend is that coveted distribution of a company's earnings paid out to shareholders, and investors often view it by its dividend yield, a metric that measures the dividend as a percent of the current stock price. Many academic studies show that dividends make up large portions of long-term returns, and in many cases, dividend contributions surpass one-third of total returns.

Canadian Imperial Bank (CM) is headquartered in Toronto, and is in the Finance sector. The stock has seen a price change of 2.28% since the start of the year. The bank and financial services company is currently shelling out a dividend of $0.77 per share, with a dividend yield of 3.31%. This compares to the Banks - Foreign industry's yield of 2.38% and the S&P 500's yield of 1.35%.

Looking at dividend growth, the company's current annualized dividend of $3.06 is up 10.5% from last year. Over the last 5 years, Canadian Imperial Bank has increased its dividend 4 times on a year-over-year basis for an average annual increase of 4.50%. Looking ahead, future dividend growth will be dependent on earnings growth and payout ratio, which is the proportion of a company's annual earnings per share that it pays out as a dividend. Canadian Imperial Bank's current payout ratio is 46%, meaning it paid out 46% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.

CM is expecting earnings to expand this fiscal year as well. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2026 is $6.78 per share, which represents a year-over-year growth rate of 10.24%.

Investors like dividends for a variety of different reasons, from tax advantages and decreasing overall portfolio risk to considerably improving stock investing profits. It's important to keep in mind that not all companies provide a quarterly payout.

High-growth firms or tech start-ups, for example, rarely provide their shareholders a dividend, while larger, more established companies that have more secure profits are often seen as the best dividend options. Income investors have to be mindful of the fact that high-yielding stocks tend to struggle during periods of rising interest rates. That said, they can take comfort from the fact that CM 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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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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