Photo by Nicholas Cappello on Unsplash

Escalade Inc, known by the ticker symbol ESCA, is a micro-cap leisure company, operating in the consumer cyclical business sector. This is my first report on Escalade Inc for this Viital portfolio. I previously discussed it for one of my six previous dog portfolios.

Escalade Inc manufactures and distributes sporting goods for a varied range of activities. These sports include archery, table tennis, basketball goals, trampolines, play systems, fitness, hockey and soccer game tables, billiards, darting, and other outdoor games, like pickleball.

These products are sold under brand names like Goalrilla, Goalsetter, Woodplay, Silverback, Nodor, Rage, Child Life, Onix, DURA, and Pickleball Now brands.

The geographic segments in which the company operates are North America, Europe and others. The major part of company revenue is generated from North America.

The company provides its products through sporting goods retailers, specialty dealers, online retailers, traditional department stores, and mass merchants.

Escalade, Incorporated was founded in 1922 and is headquartered in Evansville, Indiana.

Three key data points gauge any dividend equity or fund such as Escalade Inc (ESCA)

(1) Price

(2) Dividends

(3) Returns

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

ESCA Price

Escalade’s price per share was $13.28 as of yesterday's market close. One year ago its price was $22.72. Therefore, Escalade’s share price fell $9.44 or about 41.5% in the past year.

If Escalade’s  stock trades in the range of $10.00 to $25.00 this next year, its recent $13.28 share price might rise by $5.73 to reach $19.00 by May 9, 2023. My $5.73 upside estimate is $9.00 less than the median of price upsides gauged by one analyst tracking EXCA for a brokerage.

ESCA Dividends

Escalade’s most recently declared quarterly dividend of $0.15 is payable June 7th to shareholders on record as of May 27th.   There’s time to get the dividend payout.

Escalade initiated a variable annual dividend  December 6, 2010. Then converted to a Quarterly payment mode in January 2012. The Q dividend has grown steadily from $0.07 to $0.15 first paid March 21, 2022. At its recent .0.16 Q rate, Escalade’s s annual payout of $0.60 is estimated to deliver a 4.52% annual yield per yesterday’s $13.28 share price.

ESCA Returns

Adding the $0.60 ESCA annual dividend to the estimated one-year price upside of $5.72 shows a $6.32 potential gross gain, per share, to be reduced by any costs to trade ESCA shares.

At yesterday's $13.28 closing price per share, a little under $1000 would buy 75 shares.

A $10 broker fee (if charged) would be paid half at purchase and half at sale and might cost us about $0.13 per share.

Subtract that maybe $0.13 brokerage cost from my estimated $6.32 gross gain estimate per share results in a net gain of $6.19 X 75 shares = $464.25 for a 46.44% net gain on a $996.00 investment.

So it is that Escalade Inc (ESCA) shows a possible 46.44% net gain including a 4.52% forward looking dividend yield.

Over the next year at this time our $1000 investment in ESCA shares could generate $45.20 in cash dividends. Of course a single share of ESCA stock bought at yesterday's $13.28 price is over 3.25 times lower than the anticipated dividend income from our $1000.00 invested.

So, by my dogcatcher ideal, this is a good time to buy Escalade’s shares based on their declared dividends for the year 2022. The forthcoming annual dividend from $1K invested is currently 3.4 times more than yesterday's single share price. Consider yourself alerted. It's a sign.

All of the estimates above are speculation based on the past history of Escalade Inc (ESCA). Only time and money invested in this stock will determine its market value