A 14.9% Dividend Yield Sounds Great. Western Union Shows Why It Could Be a Trap
Five stocks are flashing dividend yields that would make any income investor stop scrolling, but a closer look at their cash flow, debt loads, and earnings coverage reveals warning signs hiding in plain sight.
Western Union (NYSE:WU | WU Price Prediction) pays $0.94 per share per year. At a share price of $6.30, that’s a yield of about 14.9%. Yields like that pull in income investors, but a high yield is only worth something if the company can keep the payout. All five names below show at least one warning sign that retirement savers should look at before the yield itself.
Quick test: a dividend may be at risk if the right earnings measure fails to cover it, free cash flow falls short of it, or debt ends up funding it.
Medical Properties Trust (MPT): A 13.7% Yield Resting on 9.25% Debt
Medical Properties Trust (NYSE:MPT), the hospital landlord, pays $0.36 a year. At $2.63 a share, the yield is about 13.7%. The yield is high mostly because the stock fell: shares are down 44.73% over the past year and 27.95% in the past month alone.
For a REIT, funds from operations (FFO) is the coverage figure that matters most. Normalized FFO came in at $0.15 per share in Q2 against a $0.09 quarterly dividend, a payout of about 60%. The balance sheet is the weak spot. Adjusted net debt runs at 8.9x EBITDAre, interest coverage is just 1.9x, and a new $2.4 billion secured refinancing carries a 9.25% rate. The dividend has already been cut from $0.29 in 2022 to $0.08 before a small raise.
The bull case: billed rent rose to $203.4 million from $177.9 million. A planned $172 million asset sale is reserved for paying down debt.
Western Union (WU): A Frozen Payout and a Shrinking Business
Western Union has paid $0.235 per share per quarter since 2021. The double-digit yield comes from the stock’s slide: shares are down 25.79% this year and 50.69% over five years.
The payout is about 76% of trailing EPS of $1.23, but cash flow tells a weaker story. Year-to-date operating cash flow of $214 million minus $88 million in capex leaves about $126 million of free cash flow. Two quarterly dividends at the current share count cost roughly $147 million. Adjusted EPS fell to $0.31 from $0.42 a year earlier, and the company paused buybacks to protect leverage. Management also expects debt-to-EBITDA to sit “elevated above historical levels” after the Intermex deal closes.
Management said the board believes the company has “sufficient financial capacity to continue and maintain that dividend.” When a company holds its payout through this much stress, that is a warning sign. The payout’s chances depend on the targeted $200 million run-rate in cost savings by the end of 2027.
Sirius XM (SIRI): Heavy Debt Behind a Steady Check
Sirius XM (NASDAQ:SIRI) pays $1.08 a year, a yield of about 4.1%. Shares rose 25.05% over the past year but remain 47.08% lower than five years ago.
The dividend takes about 43% of trailing EPS, which looks comfortable. The bigger risk is the business below. Long-term debt stands at $9.453 billion. Pandora’s monthly active users fell 7%, and EPS missed estimates in three of the last five quarters, including $0.70 against a $0.7844 estimate in Q2.
The bull case is simple. Q2 brought the first positive self-pay net adds in four years, at 22,000, and full-year free cash flow guidance is about $1.375 billion.
Franklin Templeton (BEN): A Payout Eating Most of Earnings
Franklin Templeton (NYSE:BEN) raised its quarterly payout to $0.33, which yields about 4.1%. The stock gained 49.88% over the past year, so the price decline hasn’t inflated this yield.
Coverage is the issue. The $1.32 annual dividend uses up about 90% of trailing GAAP EPS of $1.47. In the latest quarter, the company recorded a $100 million regulatory settlement and $77.2 million in workforce charges, and Western Asset lost $1.1 billion in net outflows. Even so, Franklin returned $521.5 million to shareholders in the quarter.
The bull case: long-term net inflows reached $18.4 billion, and the adjusted operating margin expanded to 28.0%.
CVS Health (CVS): GAAP Coverage Gaps Hidden by Adjusted Numbers
CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) has paid $0.665 a quarter since 2024 without a raise, which yields about 2.9%. It has the lowest yield on this list, but its GAAP numbers still deserve a look.
In 2025, net income of $1.728 billion was not enough to cover $3.397 billion in dividends paid. In the September 2025 quarter, operating cash flow of $796 million did not cover $846 million in dividends. Leverage is about 3.5x, and management is warning of 340B and Caremark membership pressures in 2027.
The bull case is strong. The dividend comes to about 33% of the midpoint of adjusted EPS guidance, and 2025 free cash flow of about $7.8 billion covered the payout well.
Check Coverage Before You Chase Yield
When a company cuts its dividend, the share price tends to drop alongside it so that income investors can lose on both the payout and the price. As Jim Cramer put it, “often super high yields are a signal that the payout simply can’t be maintained.” Before buying any of these names, check their coverage, free cash flow, and debt. A high yield alone should not be enough to justify a purchase.
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
Chris Lange is a financial and geopolitical writer with more than a decade of experience covering a myriad of topics. He has published thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St., with past coverage focused heavily on stocks, IPOs, healthcare, defense, global affairs, and technology.
His work has been quoted, or referenced by a number of outlets including Business Insider, USA Today, Yahoo Finance, MSN, The Motley Fool, and many other publications. A graduate of Southwestern University, he studied business with a focus on investments and has previous experience in banking and startups.
When not reading or writing the news, he is following his passion for Lacrosse, playing chess, or building solar projects with his dad.
