Covered by cash flow, but the payout was suspended in 2020 and only rebuilt since. Las Vegas Sands paid $0.30 a quarter in 2026, $1.20 annualized, and the board approved a rise to $0.36 from the first quarter of 2027. Annualized dividends of about $916 million are 41% of 2025 free cash flow of $2,210 million, a pass, and net debt is about 2.3x approximate adjusted EBITDA, a pass. The caution is history: the dividend was suspended in 2020, inside the 5-to-10-year review band, so the card grades warn until the rebuilt record lengthens.
Key risk: Earnings are concentrated in Macao and Singapore, so premium-gaming softness or a Macao policy change hits the cash flow that funds the payout before anything else does.
Changes if: The rebuilt raise record reaches five years without a cut, or free-cash-flow payout crosses 60%.
- ✓Cash-flow cover About 41% of FY2025 free cash flow on the annualized rate, pass (<60%).
- ✓Leverage About 2.3x on approximate adjusted EBITDA, pass (<3x); approximation stated in the metric.
- !Dividend history Suspended in 2020, resumed 2023 at $0.20 and raised twice since; cut 5-10 years ago is the review band, a caution.
- ✓Trap screen Yield 3.31%, payout under 100%, no cut in 3 years; not a trap pattern.
What this grade doesn't say: It screens the dividend only — covered, real, compounding. It says nothing about valuation or price: a well-covered payer can still be overpriced, and its price can still fall.