The average consumer probably comes across offers regularly that would best be described as "too good to be true." There is a variation of this truism that applies to dividend investors shopping for new stocks. Some dividends they encounter are best described as "too good to last." 

Recently, dividend investors were informed that CVR Partners (NYSE: UAN) now offers a huge 38% distribution yield. While the yield is in fact real, it is still too good to last if you take the time to understand what's going on.

Dividend yield is a simple math equation that takes a company's annual dividends per share and divides them by the stock price. The one caveat here is that the dividend is often annualized using the most recent quarter, which helps account for dividend increases that may have just taken place. Thus the equation is often the current quarterly dividend multiplied by four. In the case of CVR Partners, the most recent quarterly distribution was $10.43 per unit. Divide that by the unit price, which is around $85, and you get 49%.

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Source Fool.com