SFL Corp.: An Attractive Dividend Play

Summary

• SFL Corp. is mostly suitable for income-oriented investors.
• The company has been paying dividends every quarter since 2004, having paid more than $2.4 billion since inception (roughly 2.5 times the current market cap).
• In November last year, SFL Corp. made the difficult decision to slash its dividend by 40% until there is clarity around the Seadrill situation.
• The long-term distribution capacity is supported by the growing portfolio of long-term charters, which has a backlog approaching $3 billion and weighted average tenor of ~7 years.
• The dividend is well covered (less than 1/3 of operating cash flow) and once the company is back in dividend-raising mode, I expect the yield to fall below 5%, which implies a share price of at least $12 (~50% increase from current levels).

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SFL Corp. (NYSE:SFL) is a large and diversified shipping company primarily focusing on long-term charters. The company owns more than 70 vessels split between containerships, dry bulk carriers, car carriers, oil tankers and offshore assets. Note, SFL is in

Analyst’s Disclosure:I/we have a beneficial long position in the shares of SFL either through stock ownership, options, or other derivatives. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.