The materials sector includes thirteen industries all related to mining, making and delivering essential commodities. The industries are: agricultural inputs; aluminum; building materials; chemicals; coal; copper; industrial metals and minerals; paper; silver; gold; specialty chemicals; steel.

Today I'm reviewing a mid-cap packaging and containers firm named WestRock Company. It's trading ticker symbol is WRK. 

WestRock Co provides paper and packaging solutions in consumer and corrugated markets. The Company offers corrugated container, paperboard, partitions and protective packaging, container board and beverage multipacks.

It serves customers in North America, South America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. The company operates through three segments: Corrugated Packaging, Consumer Packaging, and Land and Development. 

The Corrugated Packaging segment produces containerboards, corrugated sheets, corrugated packaging, and preprinted linerboards for consumer and industrial products manufacturers, and corrugated box manufacturers. Those products are used to provide protective packaging for the shipment and distribution of food, paper, health and beauty, other household, consumer, commercial, and industrial products. 

The Consumer Packaging segment manufactures and sells folding and beverage cartons, displays, dispensing, and interior partitions; paperboards; recycled paperboards; express mail packages for the overnight courier industry; and secondary packages and paperboard packaging for the healthcare market. 

The Land and Development segment engages in real estate development activities, primarily in Charleston, South Carolina. 

WestRock Company is based in Atlanta, Georgia.

I use three key data points to gauge the value of any dividend equity or fund like WestRock Company: 

(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. 

WRK Price

WestRock's price per share was $55.52 at yesterday's market close. A year ago its price was $55.21 for a gain of $0.31 per share.  

Assuming WestRocks price will trade in the range of $50 to $70 next year, perhaps that $0.31 gain could grow ten times and take WestRock's current $55.52 price to $58.52 by mid-September, 2019. 

WRK Dividends

WestRock's most recent quarterly dividend was $0.43  declared July 27th  and paid August 20th. That dividend was increased from $0.40 in November 2017.

At this most recent $0.43 quarterly pay rate, WestRock's annual dividend is calculated at $1.72 yielding 3.1% at yesterday's closing $55.52 price.

Gains For WRK?

Adding the $1.72 estimated annual dividend to the $3.00 estimated annual price gain for WestRock makes a $4.72 gross annual per share gain, which will be reduced by costs to trade the shares.  

 A little under $1,000.00 invested today at the $55.52 recent price buys 18 WestRock Company shares. 

A $10 broker fee paid half at purchase and half at sale costs $0.56 per share

Subtracting that $0.56 brokerage cost from the estimated $4.72 gross gain leaves a net gain of $4.16 X 18 shares 

= $74.88

or a nearly 7.5% net gain on a $999.36 investment.

Therefore, WestRock Company, whose trading ticker symbol is WRK, now shows a possible 7.5% net gain including a 3.1% dividend yield. 

Fourteen brokers cover this stock:

Four say "buy" WRK.

Four say WRK will "outperform" its peers.

Six say WRK is a stock to "hold".

Thus, the analyst consensus recommendation number is 2.1 or "outperform".

The median price target set by those ten brokers is $11.40 over the $58.52 year over year price target I named. 

So, you could look at all those various numbers this way, WestRock Company, whose trading ticker symbol is WRK, has made money, is making money, and could net a 7.5% to 20% net annual gain including a 3.1% dividend yield. It could be more, it could be less.

The above speculation is based on past year performance. Actual results remain to be seen. Those results will determine if WestRock Company is worth your time and money.