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 another small-cap business equipment supplier. This one is named, Essendant Inc. Its trading ticker symbol is ESND.

Essendant Inc. is a wholesale distributor of workplace items used in the United States and internationally. It operates through four segments, business and facility essentials, ORS industrial, CPO, and automotive. It offers janitorial and sanitation supplies, breakroom items, foodservice consumables, safety and security items, and paper and packaging supplies.

The company also provides technology products, traditional office products, industrial supplies, furniture, as well as various products for education, government, healthcare, and professional services markets. It serves office and workplace dealers; facilities and maintenance distributors; technology, military, automotive aftermarket, healthcare, and other vertical suppliers; industrial resellers; national resellers; and resellers in the e-commerce channel. Essendant Inc. distributes its products through 70 distribution centers to approximately 29,000 reseller customers, as well as through online.

The company was formerly known as United Stationers Inc. and changed its name to Essendant Inc. in June 2015. Essendant Inc. was founded in 1922 and is headquartered in Deerfield, Illinois.

I use three key data points to gauge the value of any dividend equity or fund like Essendant Inc. (ESND):

(1) Price

(2) Dividends

(3) Returns Besides those three, four other keys will finally unlock 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.

Essendant's price per share was $12.56 yesterday. A year ago its price was $9.51. So the price increased $3.05 per share last year, or 25%.

Assuming Essendant's stock will trade in the range of $7 to $17 next year, Essendant's recent $12.56 price could move up by $0.44 and grow to $13.00 by early-January, 2020.

Essendant's most recent quarterly dividend was $0.14 declared October 23rd and payable, January 15th.

That $0.14 quarterly stipend equals an annual payout of $0.56 yielding 4.45% at yesterday's $12.56 price. Gains For ESND? Adding the $0.56 annual estimated dividend to my estimated $0.44 annual price upside estimate for Essendant Inc. (ESND) totals a $1.00 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 $12.56 recent price, we could buy 80 ESND shares. A $10 broker fee paid half at purchase and half at sale costs us $0.125 per share. Subtract that $0.125 brokerage cost from the estimated $1.00 gross annual gain leaves a net gain of $0.875 X 80 shares = $70.00 for about 7% net gain on a $1,004.80 investment.

Therefore, Essendant Inc. whose trading ticker symbol is ESND, now shows a possible 7% net gain including a 4.68% dividend yield. No brokers cover this stock: No one to dispute me and no price target to disagree with.

Therefore, you can look at Essendant Inc. (ESND) and see it has made money, is making money, and could rise to net a 7% net annual gain including that 4.45% 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 Essendant Inc. (ESND) is worth your time and money.