That portfolio of stocks I've been building since September 3, 2019, named Volio, now holds 52 dividend dogs. Volio is the fifth portfolio I've built (at a one dividend dog per-week pace) since 2014. Five portfolios = V for Volio!

Day by day, starting the day after Labor Day, I'll start building a new portfolio of 52 dividend dogs at a one stock per-week pace until September 2022! That new portfolio, named Vista, will become the sixth portfolio I've assembled over the past six years.

Today we'll review the fifth of five Dogs of the Year top finishing stocks that have performed the best during their one-year stint in each of my first five portfolios. We'll look at where the stock is now. 

Perhaps one of the stocks I discuss this week could be one you'll want to buy and hold forever.

The Volio Top Dog or DOTY is at its half-way point toward achieving DOTY status. My subject for today is a small-cap consumer defensive discount store stock named, Big Lots Inc. Its trading ticker is BIG. This is my first report on the dog of this year (DOTY) leader for 2021. 

Big Lots Inc is a U.S.-based company principally engaged in operating discount retail stores. 

The company provides a broad range of merchandise, including food, consumables, soft home products, hard home products, furniture, electronics and accessories, and seasonal products. 

The company sources the merchandise from traditional and close-out channels. 

In addition to merchandise, the company sells gift cards, issues merchandise credits, and more. The company operates stores throughout the United States, with around one third of its stores in California, Texas, Ohio, and Florida.

As of February 1, 2020, it operated 1,404 stores in 47 states and an e-commerce platform. 

Big Lots, Inc. was founded in 1967 and is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio.

I use three key data points to gauge dividend equities or funds like Big Lots Inc:

(1) Price

(2) Dividends

(3) Returns

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

BIG Price

Big Lot's price per share closed at $45.50 yesterday. A year ago its price was $22.74. Price soared $22.76 or over 100% last year.

Assuming Big Lots' stock trades in the range of $10 to $60 this next year, its recent $44.50 price might rise by $4.50 to reach $50.00 by September 4, 2021. 

BIG Dividends

Big Lots' most recently declared quarterly dividend was $0.30. Payable September 25, totaling $1.20 annually and yielding 2.64% at yesterday's $44.50 price.

BIG Gains?

Adding the $1.20  annual anticipated dividend to my $4.50 optimistic estimate of Big Lots' price upside shows a $5.70 potential gross gain, per share, to be reduced by any costs to trade the shares.  

If we put little over $1,000.00 today in Big Lots Inc  at $44.50, we would buy 23 shares of BIG stock.

A $10 broker fee paid half at purchase and half at sale could cost us about $0.43 per share.

Subtract that $0.43 brokerage cost from my estimated $5.70 gross gain per share results in a net gain of $5.27 X 23 shares = $121.21 for a 12.1% net gain on a $1,023.50 investment.

Thus, Big Lots Inc shows a possible 12.1% net gain including a 2.64% dividend yield. It could be more, it could be less.

The above speculation is based on past performance and supposition. Only time and money invested will tell if Big Lots Inc is worth it