A new portfolio of stocks I started building September 8, at a one stock per week pace for the next year, is named Vista. I will select its seventh stock this coming weekend. Vista is the sixth portfolio I've built (at a one dividend dog per-week pace) since 2014. Six portfolios = VI for Vista!

Vista is planned to Look Ahead for Outstanding, Proven, Dividend Winners. (Like Aristocrats)

Today we'll review the second of five technology sector stock candidates vying to be that seventh selection for the Vista portfolio.

My subject today is a mid-cap software application company, National Instruments Corp. Its trading ticker symbol is NATI. This is my first report on National Instruments Corp for this Vista dog of the week portfolio. Previously I reviewed it for the Volio portfolio.  

National Instruments Corp designs, manufactures, and sells software and hardware platforms to engineers and scientists. 

Its suite of application software products includes NI TestStand, targeted for measurement applications in a manufacturing environment; NI VeriStand, targeted for configuring real-time testing applications; and NI DIAdem, which offers tools to interactively mine and analyze data. 

The company derives revenue primarily from the sale of hardware, software licenses, and related services. A majority of the firm's revenue is generated in the United States, but it has a presence in countries across the world.

It serves the semiconductor, transportation, aerospace, and defense industries; and government agencies. 

The company was founded in 1976 and is headquartered in Austin, Texas.

I use three key data points to gauge dividend equities or funds like National Instruments Corp:

(1) Price

(2) Dividends

(3) Returns

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

NATI Price

National's price per share closed at $35.87 yesterday. A year ago its price was $40.62. Price fell by $4.75 or just about 11.7% last year.

If National's stock trades in the range of $20 to $45 this next year, its recent $35.87 price might rise by $4.13 to reach $40.00 by October 20, 2021. 

NATI Dividends

National's most recently declared quarterly dividend was $0.26 paid September 8th. Dividends are estimated to total $1.04 per share annually and yield 2.9% at yesterday's $35.87 closing price.

NATI Gains?

Adding the $1.04 annual anticipated dividend to my $4.13 optimistic estimate of Nationals price upside shows a $5.17 potential gross gain, per share, to be reduced by any costs to trade the shares.

Put little over $1,000.00 today in National Instruments Corp at $35.87, and we would buy 28 shares of NATI stock.

A $10 broker fee paid half at purchase and half at sale would cost us about $0.36 per share.

Subtract that $0.36 brokerage cost from my estimated $5.17 gross gain per share results in a net gain of $4.81 X 28 shares = $134.68 for a 13.45% net gain on a $1,004.36 investment.

So it goes that National Instruments Corp shows a possible 13.45% net gain including a 2.9% dividend yield. It could be more, it could be less. 

All of the estimates above are speculation based on the past history of National Instruments Corp. Only time and money invested in this stock will determine its worth.