When presented with an opportunity to buy an ASX dividend stock offering a high yield, it is entirely reasonable to be sceptical.
After all, you don't want to be buying into a business that's declining or has forces beyond its control working against it.
Because that could lead to falls in future dividend payments or, arguably worse, a calamitous drop of the share price.
There's not much use harvesting 10% yield if the stock is only worth half of what you bought it for.
How is the Accent Group travelling?
After the latest dividend announcement this month, fashion retailer Accent Group Ltd (ASX: AX1) is now paying a fully franked yield of 7.2%.
That's a nice income producer, but is it worth buying?
The best barometer of how the business is going is the half-year results it presented during the current reporting season.
And unfortunately, Accent Group did not flatter itself.
The Motley Fool's James Mickelboro reported that all major metrics were down for Accent Group to start the 2024 financial year.
"Sales down 1.7% to $810.9 million. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) down 7.5% to $157.5 million.
"Net profit after tax (NPAT) down 27.6% to $42.2 million."
And the new payout of 8.5 cents per share was 29% lower than a year ago.
The market duly punished the dividend stock, sending the share price 8% down in early trade after the results announcement.
Accent Group runs footwear and clothing chains such as The Athlete's Foot, Glue, Hype, and Ugg.
As a merchant of consumer discretionary goods, it's apparent it's starting to feel the pinch of its consumers straining under the weight of 13 interest rate rises.
What do fund managers think of this dividend stock?
However, professional investors don't seem to be massively put off.
There have been no major movements in broker recommendations or share price targets since the half-year numbers were revealed on Friday.
According to CMC Invest, five of 12 analysts are keeping their strong buy rating for Accent Group.
Four are urging a hold, while only three are recommending selling.
Perhaps the Bell Potter team put it best when it reiterated its buy rating.
"We remain constructive on Accent Group given the scale and exposure in terms of channels, brands and size as the overall industry navigates a challenging retail spend environment in addition to growing a vertical brand strategy (~8% on owned sales) and growth adjacencies within The Athlete's Foot and via exclusive partnerships with globally winning brands as Hoka."
