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 industrials sector stocks this week striving to become the seventh of eight from that sector to join the Ivy folio.

That industrials sector includes twenty-three industries all related to designing, fabricating and servicing stuff we want and use. The industrials industries range from aerospace and defense to waste management with all the transportation, business services, and equipment required in between.

Today I'm reviewing a small-cap business equipment company named Ennis Inc. Their trading ticker symbol is EBF.  I last reviewed this stock and added it to the Ivy portfolio in January.

Ennis, Inc. designs, manufactures and sells business forms and other business products in the United States. The company offers snap sets, continuous forms, laser cut sheets, tags, labels, envelopes, integrated products, jumbo rolls, and pressure-sensitive products under many brand names.

It also provides a point of purchase advertising for large franchise and fast-food chains, as well as kitting and fulfillment. In addition, the company offers custom printed, high-performance labels, and custom and stock tags; custom and imprinted envelopes; and financial and security documents.

It sells its products directly, as well as through private printers and independent distributors to large banking organizations.

The company was formerly known as Ennis Business Forms, Inc. Ennis, Inc. was founded in 1909 and is headquartered in Midlothian, Texas.

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

(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.

EBF Price

Ennis's price per share closed at $19.80  yesterday. A year ago its price was $20.90. Price fell  $1.10 or  5.26% in the past year.

Assuming Ennis's stock trades in the range of $17.00 to $23.00 this year, Ennis's recent $19.80 price could rise by $1.20 and go to $21.00 by August 2020.

EBF Dividends

Ennis's most recent quarterly dividend was $0.225 paid July 11th.

That $0.225 Q payout equates to an annual dividend of $0.90 generating a yield of 4.55% based on yesterday's $19.80 closing price.

Gains For EBF?

Adding the $0.90 annual estimated dividend to my $1.20 estimate of Ennis's price upside shows a $2.10 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 $19.80 recent stock price, we'd buy 50 Ennis Inc shares.

A $10 broker fee paid half at purchase and half at sale will cost us $0.20 per share.

Subtract that $0.20 brokerage cost from the estimated $2.10 gross annual gain leaves a net gain of $1.90 X 50 shares = $95.00 or a 9.5% net gain on a $990.00 investment.

Therefore, Ennis Inc whose trading ticker symbol is EBF now shows a possible net gain of 9.5% including a 4.55% dividend yield.

Two brokers track Ennis Inc stock:

Both say "Hold" EBF.

Their consensus score of 3.00 equates to "Hold".

Now we can look at Ennis Inc and see it has made money, is making money, and could net a 9.5% gain including a 4.55% 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 Ennis Inc is worth your time and money.