A portfolio of stocks I've been building since September 3 is named Volio. 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 fourth of four consumer defensive sector stocks striving to join my Volio folio. This could be the eighteenth pick for Volio!

That defensive sector includes twelve industries all related to providing convenient packaged goods we've just gotta have. Industries like: beverages, brewed, soft, or distilled; confectioners; discount stores; education & training; farm products; food distribution; grocery stores; household & personal products; packaged goods; tobacco.

My subject today is a mid-cap packaged food company named Flowers Foods Inc. Their trading ticker symbol is FLO. I last reported about FLO on September 25, 2019.

Flowers Foods is an American company producing bakery food for retail and foodservice across the United States. The products include fresh breads, buns, rolls, snack cakes, and tortillas. The company distributes to supermarkets, convenience stores, and restaurants.

Its operating segments are divided into direct store delivery, which provides fresh breads, tortillas, cakes, and rolls; and the warehouse segment, which distributes fresh snack cakes and frozen breads and rolls.

Key brands are Nature's Own, Whitewheat, Cobblestone Bread, Wonder, and Tastykake and Dave's.

The company was formerly known as Flowers Industries and changed its name to Flowers Foods, Inc. in 2001.

Flowers Foods, Inc. was founded in 1919 and is headquartered in Thomasville, Georgia.

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

FLO Price

Flower's price per share closed at $21.24 yesterday. A year ago its price was $18.71. So, in the past year, its price improved by $2.53, or just over 13.5%.

Assuming Flower's stock trades in the range of $18 to $24 this next year, its recent $21.24 price could rise by $0.76  to reach $22.00 by January 4, 2021, assuming upward price momentum returns.

FLO Dividends

Flower's latest declared quarterly dividend was $0.19  per share paid December 13th.

That $0.19 Q dividend equates to $0.76 annually and yields 3.58% based on yesterday's $21.24 closing price.

FLO Gains?

Adding the $0.76 annual estimated dividend to my $0.76 optimistic estimate of Flowers Foods Inc price upside shows a $1.52 potential gross gain, per share, which will be reduced by any costs to trade these shares.

As for costs, if we put a little under $1,000.00 today in Flowers Foods Inc at its recent $21.24 price, would buy 47 shares of FLO.

A $10 broker fee paid half at purchase and half at sale could cost us about $0.21 per share.

Subtract that $0.21 brokerage cost from the estimated $1.52 gross estimated gain per share leaves a net gain of $1.31 X 47 shares = $61.57 or a 6.16% net gain on a $998.28 investment.

Therefore, Flowers Foods shows a possible 6.16% net gain including a 3.58% 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 Flowers Foods Inc (FLO) is worth your time and money.