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 to do that in between.

Today I'm reviewing a business equipment firm named Ennis, Inc. It's trading ticker symbol is EBF.

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

I use three primary keys to measure dividend equities or funds like Ennis, Inc. (EBF): 

(1) Price

(2) Dividends

(3) Returns

Besides those three main keys, I'll use four more to finally unlock an equity or fund in which to invest.

These first three keys best test whether the company has made, is making and will continue to make money.

EBF Price

Ennis, Inc.'s price at yesterday's market close was $21.10 per share. The company shows long-term positive price momentum. A year ago its price was $16.70. So it's a gained  $4.40 per share in the past year.  Can EBF do as well in the coming year?  If it does, its price will increase from $21.10 to $25.50 per share or about 21%.

EBF Dividends

Ennis, Inc.'s most recent quarterly paid dividend was $0.20 declared in December 2017, and payable February 9th.  

The company has paid quarterly dividends since 1985.

The consensus forward-looking annual dividend for 2018 is $0.80 payable quarterly at about $0.20 in February, May, August, & November.

The yield from a $0.80 annual dividend at yesterday's $21.10 price is 3.79%

Are Gains Ahead For EBF?

Adding the $0.80 dividend to the $4.40 estimated price gain (to repeat last year's) shows a potential $5.20 gross gain.  

But there are costs for the Ennis, Inc. shares at purchase and at sale. A  $1,000.00 as of Friday's $21.10 closing price would get us 47 shares. 

Those 47 shares will be hit with a broker fee of $5 at purchase and another $5 at sale (for a total of $10 to get the gains). Each share then has a brokerage cost of about $0.213

Subtracting that $0.213 brokerage cost from the estimated $5.20 gross gain shows a net gain to 2019 of $4.987

X 47 shares 

= $234.39

or about a 23.6% net gain on our $991.70 investment.

Therefore, Ennis, Inc. (whose ticker symbol is EBF), shows a possible 23.6% gain by my simple year over year calculation with a 3.79% dividend, baked-in. Two analysts cover this stock and estimate it's 1year target price at $20.