A portfolio of stocks I've been building since September 3 is named Volio Folio. It will eventually hold 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!

Today I'm reviewing the first of five consumer cyclical stocks striving to be picked to join the Volio folio. This could be the ninth pick for Volio!

That consumer cylcical sector includes twenty-eight industries ranging from Advertising Agencies to Apparel, Autos, Broadcasting, Department Stores, Gambling, Leisure, Lodging, Packaging, Personal Services, Shoes, Restaurants, Rubber, Plastics, Textiles, and all such consumer aimed enterprises.

My subject today is a small-cap restaurant company, Brinker International Inc. Their trading ticker symbol is EAT. This is my first report on EAT.

Brinker International Inc operates casual dining restaurants under the brands Chili Grill and Bar (Chili's) and Maggiano's Little Italy (Maggiano's).

Chili's falls in the Bar and Grill category of casual dining. Its menu features Fresh Mex and Fresh Tex favorites including signature items such as slow-smoked baby back ribs, craft burgers, fajitas, and famous bottomless chips and salsa paired with tableside guacamole.

Maggiano's is an Italian restaurant brand with a full lunch and dinner menu offering chef-prepared, such as appetizers, chicken, seafood, veal, and prime steaks, and desserts.

The company was founded in 1975 and is based in Dallas TX.

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

Brinker International Inc:

(1) Price

(2) Dividends

(3) Returns

Besides those three, several other keys will finally unlock an equity or fund in which to invest, or not.

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

EAT Price

Brinker's price per share closed at $44.55 on Friday. A year ago its price was $43.20. In the past year, its price rose $1.35 or 3.125%.

Assuming Brinker's stock trades in the range of $35.00 to $55.00 this next year, it's recent $44.55 price could rise by $1.45 and get to $46.00 by late-October, 2020, assuming more upward price momentum continues.

EAT Dividends

Brinker's latest declared quarterly dividend was $0.38, paid September 26th.

That $0.38 Q dividend equates to $1.52 annually and yields 3.41% based on Friday's $44.55 closing price.

EAT Gains?

Adding the $1.52 annual estimated dividend to my $1.45 estimate of EAT's price upside shows a $2.97 potential gross gain, per share, which will be reduced by costs to trade these shares.

Say we put a little under $1,000.00 today into Brinker International Inc. at its recent $44.55 price, we'd buy 22 shares of EAT.

A $10 broker fee paid half at purchase and half at sale could cost us about $0.45 per share.

Subtract that $0.45 brokerage cost from the estimated $2.97 gross estimated gain leaves a net gain of $2.52 X 22 shares = $55.44 or a 5.45% net gain on a $980.10 investment.

Therefore, Brinker International Inc., whose trading ticker symbol is EAT shows a possible 5.45% net gain including a 3.41% 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 Brinker International Inc is worth your time and money.