Silver Wheaton (NYSE:SLW) Ready to Offer Dividend?

With the price of Silver Wheaton (NYSE:SLW) soaring for some time, the question of valuation emerges and how much higher they can go, and who they'll attract investors once it levels out.

There seems to be a lot of room left for Silver Wheaton to run, but they must plan for the future and retain investors, and the idea they may do that through introducing a hefty dividend was offered by RBC Capital Markets.

That would help protect Silver Wheaton from sudden flight from the stock of the company, as dividends, for the most part, is a statement by a company that they're confident in their future performance, generating confidence for investors, and of course another stream of income.

Silver Wheaten, as with silver in general, is looked upon in two ways: First as a company that acquires silver as an industrial metal, and two, as a company that acquires silver as an investment.

The latter is referring to silver being considered as an alternative currency in the same way gold is at this time. The difference now is silver is undervalued in that way in contrast with gold, and has some room to move up in price to bring it to historical 16 to 1 ratios. That has been skewed since gold began its runup, but has been correcting lately.

As far as the industrial side, silver has a bright future there, and will continue to perform strongly for years. Silver as an investment metal will largely run as long as gold does, and that could still be for years into the future, with many variables that have to be taken into consideration.

Things like interest rates, the economy, quantitative easing and the sovereign debt crisis in Europe, among other things. All of these have legs to them, and aren't going to be solved any time soon. That means silver as an industrial and investment metal has a bright future, as does Silver Wheaton.

With that in mind, it's possible they may offer a divident in the near future, as they have little else to do with their money with the particular business model they have.