Is There Danger Lurking in Caterpillar Inc.s Dividend?

At the time of this writing,prices of key commodities, including oil, copper, and aluminum are testing their six-year lows. This turn of events is adouble whammy for a company like Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT) that makes heavy machinery for the mining and oil & gas sectors. Not surprisingly, Caterpillar stock is down nearly 21% year to date.

At the same time, the recent slide in its stock price has pushed Caterpillar's dividend yield to a five-year high of 4.1%, making it one of the most attractive dividend stocks in the industry today. But is this sustainable, given the severe headwinds that the company continues to face? With its revenue and earnings taking a sharp dipin recent years revenue and operating profits in 2014 were down 16% and 37%, respectively, from 2012 -- and key end markets moving from bad to worse, is Caterpillar's dividend in jeopardy?

Find out the answer in the slideshow below, which digs deeper into Caterpillar's leverage, cash flows, and dividend history to decide whether the company can continue to pay out a healthy dividend.

Is There Danger Lurking in Caterpillar's Dividend? from

The article Is There Danger Lurking in Caterpillar Inc.s Dividend? originally appeared on Fool.com.

Neha Chamaria has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.