That portfolio of stocks I've been building since September 3, 2019, named Volio will, by August 28, 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 five technology sector stocks primed to join Volio as the ninth of nine representing the sector.One of the stocks I discuss this week could become the fifty-first overall selection for Volio!

My subject today is a mid-cap software application company named, National Instruments Corp. Its trading ticker is NATI. This is my first report on National Instruments Corp. (NATI) for this 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 throughout 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. (NATI):

(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 $34.82 yesterday. A year ago its price was $42.90. Price fell by $8.08 or about 19% last year.

Assuming National's stock trades in the range of $20 to $44 this next year, its recent $34.82 price might rise by $5.18 to reach $40.00 by August 20, 2021.

NATI Dividends

National's most recently declared quarterly dividend was $0.26, payable September 8th. That Q dividend equates to $1.04annually and yields 2.99% at yesterday's $34.82 share price.

NATI Gains?

Adding the $1.04 annual estimated dividend to my $5.18 optimistic estimate of Hackett's price upside shows a $6.22 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 The National Instruments Corp. at $34.82, we would buy 29 shares of (NATI) stock.

A $10 broker fee paid half at purchase and half at sale could cost us about $0.34 per share.

Subtract that $0.34 brokerage cost from my estimated $6.22 gross gain per share results in a net gain of $5.88 X 29 shares = $170.52 for a 17% net gain on a 1,009.78 investment.

Thus, National Instruments Corp. (NATI)shows a possible 17% net gain including a 2.99% 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 National Instruments Corp. (NATI) is worth it.