Holding the dividend while profit falls
663 dividend-paying companies have reported falling net income over the last three years.
A dividend cut is one of the few corporate announcements that is read as an admission, so boards defend the payout well past the point where the earnings justify it. That makes a maintained dividend against declining profit one of the more informative combinations in a filing: it tells you what management believes about the decline being temporary.
Whether that belief is well founded depends on cash, not profit. Net income is reduced by non-cash charges -- amortisation of acquired intangibles, impairments -- that do not affect the ability to pay. A company whose earnings fell because it wrote down a past acquisition can fund its dividend indefinitely.
The pairing that should concern a holder is a maintained dividend against falling free cash flow, because then the payout is coming from the balance sheet. Compare the dividend against free cash flow rather than against earnings.
What this is usually called
The relationship here is the dividend payout ratio -- dividends over net income -- and a ratio above one is described as an uncovered dividend or a dividend paid out of reserves. Dividend cover is the same number inverted. Companies with long unbroken records are marketed as dividend aristocrats, which is a claim about consistency and not about affordability.
The question, as a query
Every figure below comes from running this against the current filings, in the same syntax the screener takes, so you can change a threshold and re-run it.
POSITIVE(dividends) AND DECLINED(net_income,3)| Company | Revenue | Net income | Gross margin | Free cash flow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UNH InsurerUNITEDHEALTH GROUP INC | $447.57B | $12.06B | 88.7% | $16.08B |
| CVSCVS HEALTH Corp | $402.07B | $1.77B | 45.0% | $7.81B |
| XOMExxonMobil Holdings Corp | $332.24B | $28.84B | Unavailable | $23.61B |
| CORCencora, Inc. | $321.33B | $1.55B | 3.6% | $3.21B |
| ELV InsurerElevance Health, Inc. | $199.12B | $5.66B | 89.4% | $3.17B |
| CVXCHEVRON CORP | $189.03B | $12.30B | 42.8% | Unavailable |
| GMGeneral Motors Co | $185.02B | $2.70B | Unavailable | $17.56B |
| HDHOME DEPOT, INC. | $164.68B | $14.16B | 33.3% | Unavailable |
| KRKROGER CO | $147.64B | $1.02B | Unavailable | Unavailable |
| VZVERIZON COMMUNICATIONS INC | $138.19B | $17.17B | Unavailable | Unavailable |
| MPCMarathon Petroleum Corp | $132.70B | $4.05B | 10.0% | $4.77B |
| PSXPhillips 66 | $132.38B | $4.40B | 12.3% | Unavailable |
| HUM InsurerHUMANA INC | $129.66B | $1.19B | Unavailable | $375.00M |
| VLOVALERO ENERGY CORP/TX | $122.69B | $2.35B | 4.4% | Unavailable |
| PEPPEPSICO INC | $93.92B | $8.24B | 54.1% | Unavailable |
| UPSUNITED PARCEL SERVICE INC | $88.66B | $5.57B | Unavailable | $4.76B |
| C BankCITIGROUP INC | $85.22B | $14.31B | Unavailable | -$74.15B |
| SYYSYSCO CORP | $84.55B | $1.76B | 18.5% | Unavailable |
| ACIAlbertsons Companies, Inc. | $83.17B | $217.40M | 27.2% | Unavailable |
| ADMArcher-Daniels-Midland Co | $80.27B | $1.08B | 6.3% | $4.20B |
| MET InsurerMETLIFE INC | $77.08B | $3.38B | Unavailable | Unavailable |
| LMTLOCKHEED MARTIN CORP | $75.05B | $5.02B | 10.2% | Unavailable |
| BGBunge Global SA | $70.33B | $816.00M | 4.8% | -$879.00M |
| PFEPFIZER INC | $62.58B | $7.77B | 74.3% | $9.08B |
| ABBVAbbVie Inc. | $61.16B | $4.23B | 70.2% | $17.82B |
| COPCONOCOPHILLIPS | $58.94B | $7.99B | 62.1% | Unavailable |
| HPQHP INC | $55.30B | $2.53B | 20.6% | Unavailable |
| TSNTYSON FOODS, INC. | $54.44B | $474.00M | 6.5% | $1.18B |
| COF BankCAPITAL ONE FINANCIAL CORP | $53.43B | $2.45B | Unavailable | $26.14B |
| INGMIngram Micro Holding Corp | $52.56B | $327.88M | 6.7% | $785.37M |
| IMOIMPERIAL OIL LTD | $47.08B | $3.27B | Unavailable | Unavailable |
| NKENIKE, Inc. | $46.40B | $3.11B | 42.9% | $2.18B |
| DEDEERE & CO | $45.68B | $5.03B | Unavailable | $6.10B |
| ABTABBOTT LABORATORIES | $44.33B | $6.52B | 56.4% | $7.40B |
| QCOMQUALCOMM INC/DE | $44.28B | $5.54B | 55.4% | Unavailable |
| DGDOLLAR GENERAL CORP | $42.72B | $1.51B | 30.7% | Unavailable |
| NOCNORTHROP GRUMMAN CORP /DE/ | $41.95B | $4.18B | Unavailable | $3.31B |
| BBYBEST BUY CO INC | $41.69B | $1.07B | 22.5% | $1.26B |
| MDLZMondelez International, Inc. | $38.54B | $2.45B | 28.4% | $3.24B |
| LADLITHIA MOTORS INC | $37.63B | $819.60M | 15.2% | $5.80M |
Showing the 40 largest by revenue of 663. Open the full list in the screener.
What this does not show
Dividends here are common dividends paid in cash, as reported. Special dividends and buybacks are separate decisions and are not counted.
The measures behind this
Common dividends paid Net income Free cash flow
Related findings
Citing this
SequelSEC, “Holding the dividend while profit falls”, 14 October 2026. https://sequelsec.com/findings/dividends-maintained-as-profit-fell
Figures are recomputed on every view from SEC filings, so a number quoted from this page should carry the date it was read.