In May 2019, we downgraded Tanger's (SKT) Dividend Safety Score to Borderline Safe and wrote: With disruption (and rising store closures) looking more permanent, Tanger's occupancy level, rent rates, and cash flow could come under even greater pressure, and potentially for much longer than management and analysts currently expect...As conservative investors, we prefer to own businesses that have more in their control and are better aligned with secular themes working in their favor. The apparel retail space does not meet those objectives given its fast pace of change and the rise of online shopping. At the time, Tanger's dividend did not look at risk of an imminent cut. We stated that "outside of a wave of store closures or a potential desire to maintain [...]

Last week, we discussed how the coronavirus pandemic was impacting STORE Capital's (STOR) tenants significantly. Based on STORE's documented tenant mix, we estimated that between 40% and 60% of rent was at risk of deferral. Since then, STORE participated in a call with Morgan Staley to provide an update to investors on the firm's results. In the call, management revealed that only 64% of April rent had been collected so far. For context, normally 100% of rent is collected by mid-month. 90% of the remaining 36% of rent had been granted deferral status with repayment expected within the next year or so. No payments had been forgiven or reduced, but the other 10% of uncollected rent was still in negotiation. May will likely be [...]

Earlier this year, Coca-Cola (KO) announced its 58th consecutive annual dividend increase. When the company reported earnings on April 21, management reaffirmed their commitment to the dividend: We will of course continue to focus on protecting the progress we made on working capital and free cash flow in 2019. And in this context, our capital allocation priorities remain very much focused on investing wisely to support our business operations and continuing to prioritize our dividend. Specifically with regard to the dividend, we currently have no intentions to change our approach. While many consumer staples businesses have seen a surge in demand due to pantry loading, Coca-Cola's outlook is more tempered due to its diversified reach into many different markets worldwide (over 60% [...]

AT&T (T) reported earnings on April 22 and reiterated confidence in its dividend despite the uncertainty caused by COVID-19:  No one knows the full duration and magnitude of the situation, but we have been running several different stress test scenarios with varying degrees of severity. Through it all, we expect to come through this healthy and expect that our cash flow will allow us to continue to invest in growth areas, to provide ample dividend coverage, and allow us to retire debt...We remain committed to our dividend. In fact, we finished last year with our dividend as a percent of free cash flow a little over 50%. And even with the current economic crisis, we expect the payout ratio in 2020 to [...]