This week my Safari portfolio is seeking a company from the basic materials sector. 

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

Today I'm reviewing an industrial metals and minerals company, BHP Billiton Company Limited. It's trading ticker symbol is BHPLF (BHP). 

BHP Billiton Ltd produces commodities, including iron ore, metallurgical and energy coal, conventional and unconventional oil and gas, copper, aluminum, manganese, uranium, nickel, and silver.

The company was formerly known as BHP Limited and changed its name to BHP Billiton Limited in July 2001. 

BHP Billiton Limited was founded in 1851 and is headquartered in Melbourne, Australia. 

BHP Billiton Limited is a subsidiary of BHP Billiton Group.

I use three primary keys to gauge dividend equities or funds like BHP Billiton Company Limited (BHPLF): 

(1) Price

(2) Dividends

(3) Returns

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

The three primary keys, however, best tell whether a company has made, is making, and will make money. 

BHPLF Price

BHP's price at Friday's market close was $24.13 per share.  A year ago its price was $18.99. Indeed, it gained  $5.14 per share in the past year.  

If BHP Limited does as well this coming year its value will increase from $24.13 to $29.27, or about 21%. 

BHPLF Dividends

BHP's most recent semi-annual dividend was $0.424 paid in September.

The annual dividend for 2018 is estimated at $0.97 payable in March and September

The yield from that $0.97annual dividend was  4% at Friday's $24.13 price.

Gains For BHPLF?

Adding the $0.97 dividend to the hypothetical $5.14 estimated year over year price gain, shows a potential $6.11 gross gain for the coming year.  

Subtracting the cost to trade BHP Billiton Company Limited shares,  $1,000.00 invested at Friday's $24.13 price bought 41 shares. 

Those 41 shares cost broker fees of $10 ($5 at purchase and another $5 at sale) at a per share cost of about $0.24 per share

Subtracting that $0.24 brokerage cost from the estimated $6.11 gross gain leaves a net gain to next year of $5.87

X 41 shares 

= $240.67

or a 24.3% net gain on a $989.33 investment.

Therefore, BHP Billiton Company Limited (whose ticker symbol is BHPLF), now shows a possible 24.3% gain by my simple year over year calculation with a 4% dividend included. 

No analysts cover this stock but the past year price chart I saw showed a peak price gain to $25.23 on January 12, 2018.

These forward looking numbers are conjecture based on past year performance. The actual results remain to be seen.  They could turn out to be far lower. More study is required for you to determine if BHP Billiton Company Limited is worth your time and money.