A portfolio of stocks I'm building, named Ivy, holds 52 dividend dogs. Ivy is the fourth portfolio I've built (at a one dividend dog per week pace) since 2014. Four portfolios = IV!

Today I'm reviewing the second of five materials sector stocks this week striving to become the eighth of nine from that sector to join the Ivy folio.

That materials sector has thirteen industries all related to mining, making, and delivering essential commodities. They are: agricultural inputs; aluminum; building materials; chemicals; coal; copper; industrial metals; steel; paper; silver; specialty chemicals; gold.

Today I'm reviewing a large-cap former paper and paper products company named Weyerhaeuser Co. Their trading ticker symbol is WY.  And they are now a Diversified Real Estate Investment Trust.

Weyerhaeuser ranks among the world's largest forest product companies. Following the 2016 sale of its pulp business to International Paper, Weyerhaeuser operates three business segments: timberlands, wood products, and real estate.

Weyerhaeuser is structured as a real estate investment trust and is not required to pay federal income taxes on earnings generated by timber harvest activities. Earnings from its wood products segment are subject to federal income tax. Weyerhaeuser acquired fellow timber REIT Plum Creek in 2016.

The company was founded in 1900 and is headquartered in Seattle, Washington.

I use three key data points to gauge dividend-paying equities or funds like Weyerhaeuser Co:

(1) Price

(2) Dividends

(3) Returns

Besides those three, several other keys will finally unlock an equity or fund in which to invest.

Those three basic keys, however, best tell whether a company has made, is making, and will make money.

WY Price

Weyerhaeuser's price per share closed at $24.72 yesterday. A year ago its price was $33.92. Price fell  $9.20 or 27% in the past year.

Assuming Weyerhaeuser's stock trades in the range of $20.00 to $30.00 this year, Weyerhaeuser's recent $24.72 price could rise by $3.28 and go to $28.00 by August 2020.

WY Dividends

Weyerhaeuser's most recent quarterly dividend is $0.34 paid June 21st.

That $0.34 Q payout plus the previous dividend payouts equates to an annual dividend of $1.36 generating a yield of 5.5% based on yesterday's $24.72 closing price.

Gains For WY?

Adding the $1.36 annual estimated dividend to my $3.28 estimate of Weyerhaeuser's price upside shows a $4.64 potential gross annual gain, per share, which will be reduced by costs to trade those shares.

Say we pay a little under $1,000.00 today at the $24.72 recent stock price, we'd buy 40 Weyerhaeuser Co shares.

A $10 broker fee paid half at purchase and half at sale will cost us $0.25 per share.

Subtract that $0.25 brokerage cost from the estimated $4.64 gross annual gain leaves a net gain of $4.39 X 40 shares = $175.60 or a 17.6% net gain on a $988.80 investment.

Therefore, Weyerhaeuser Co whose trading ticker symbol is WY now shows a possible net gain of 17.6% including a 5.5% dividend yield.

Twelve brokers track Weyerhaeuser Co stock:

Six brokers say "buy" WY.

Three brokers say WY will "outperform."

Two brokers say "hold" WY.

One broker says WY will "underperform."

Their consensus score of 1.8 equates to "Outperform"

Now we can look at Weyerhaeuser Co and see it has made money, is making money, and could net a 17.6% gain including a 5.5% dividend yield. It could be more, it could be less.

The above speculation is based on past year performance. The actual results remain to be seen to learn if Weyerhaeuser Co is worth your time and money.