I'm now looking for a second stalwart industrial sector representative for my new Ivy portfolio. That industrial 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 supplier, Ennis Inc. Its trading ticker symbol is EBF. Ennis, Inc. was founded in 1909 and is headquartered in Midlothian, Texas.

Ennis Inc provides business equipment to various industries. It is engaged in manufacturing, designing and selling business forms and other printed business products. The company offers snap sets, continuous forms, laser cut sheets, tags, labels, envelopes, integrated products, jumbo rolls, and pressure sensitive products under the Ennis, Royal Business Forms, Block Graphics, Specialized Printed Forms, 360 Custo, Witt Printing, B&D Litho, Genforms, PrintGraphics, Calibrated Forms, TRI-C Business Forms, Major Business Systems, Independent Printing, Hoosier Data Forms, and many other brand names. It also provides point of purchase advertising for large franchise and fast food chains, as well as kitting and fulfillment under the Adams McClure brand; presentation and document folders under the Admore, Folder Express, and Independent Folders brand names; custom printed labels, custom, and stock tags products under Ennis Tag & Label brand; and custom and stock tags and labels under the Atlas Tag & Label, Kay Toledo Tag, and Special Service Partners brand names. In addition, the company offers custom and imprinted envelopes; and financial and security documents under the Northstar and General Financial Supply brand names.

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.

I use three key data points to gauge the value of any dividend equity or fund like Ennis Inc: (1) Price (2) Dividends (3) Returns. Besides those three, four more keys will finally unlock an equity or fund in which to invest. But those first three primary keys, best tell whether a company has made, is making, and will make money.

EBF Price

Ennis's price per share was $19.25 Monday. A year ago its price was $21.20. So price dropped $1.95 per share last year, or 10%. Assuming Ennis's stock will trade in the range of $15 to $25 next year, Ennis's recent $19.25 price could recover by $0.75 and grow to $20.00 by late-December, 2019.

EBF Dividends

Ennis's most recent quarterly dividend was $0.225 declared December 21st and payable, February 8th. That $0.225 quarterly stipend equals an annual payout of $0.90 yielding 4.68% at Monday's $19.35 price.

Gains For EBF?

Adding the $0.90 annual estimated dividend to my estimated $0.75 annual price upside estimate for Ennis Inc totals a $1.65 potential gross annual gain, per share, which will be reduced by costs to trade those shares. For a little over $1,000.00 invested today at the $19.25 recent price we could buy 52 EBF shares. A $10 broker fee paid half at purchase and half at sale costs us $0.19 per share. Subtract that $0.19 brokerage cost from the estimated $1.65 gross annual gain leaves a net gain of $1.46 X 52 shares = $75.92 for a 7.5% net gain on a $1,001.00 investment.

Therefore, Ennis now shows a possible 7.5% net gain including a 4.68% dividend yield.

Two brokers cover this stock: One says "buy" EBF; one says "hold" EBF shares. The two covering brokers are more optimistic for EBF's price recovery than I am. They strike a median price upside at $22.00 next year. Which, you will recall, is $2.00 higher than my $20.00 estimated one year target. Therefore, you can look at Ennis and see it has made money, is making money, and could rise to net a 7.5% to 15% net annual gain including that 4.68% estimated 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 determine if Ennis Inc  is worth your time and money.