Eye on Ennis Inc.

When companies need business forms and other business products to operate their daily business, they often call on Ennis Inc. (EBF). As part of the Office Supplies industry, Ennis makes these products and gets them out to customers through a national network of distributors. They also have a subsidiary, which manufactures and sells apparel.

The company began in 1909 in Ennis, Texas. Initially, they were a small firm serving the cotton industry. Today, they employ over 6,000 people and operate 44 facilities in the U.S. Headquartered in Midlothian, Texas, they trade on the NYSE and are one of the largest private-label printed business product suppliers in the country. Ennis also operates production and distribution facilities in Canada and Mexico.

Ennis Inc. maintains two business divisions: Print and Apparel. The Print division manufactures and distributes forms, printed and electronic media, presentation products, and advertising specialties. They also manufacture secure and negotiable documents, internal bank forms, and custom products and envelopes. The Apparel division manufactures and distributes active-wear and T-shirts through their six distribution centers in North America.

Ennis’s subsidiaries are Adams McClure, Northstar Computer Forms, Admore, Calibrated Forms Co, Witt Printing, Block Graphics, Specialized Printed Forms, B&D Litho of Arizona, Trade Envelopes, and Genforms. Ennis, through these subsidiaries, focuses their efforts on Forms Solutions, Promotional Solutions, and Financial Solutions.

Forms Solutions provides business forms that companies can rely on for their everyday operations. Promotional Solutions provides ad concepts and presentation folders to labels and commercial printing. The goal with Ennis’s Promotional Solutions is to provide any type of promotional office supply product a company needs. Financial Solutions provides financial products to banks and financial institutions.

Ennis Inc. continues to innovate for growth as they strive to be the premier company for printed office supplies. Along with their apparel line, they hope to expand their horizons further by offering their customers new product lines. They seek to give their shareholders new channels to increase their return on investment.

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Comments

[User 200874]

I've owned this stock for 15 years -- it is great for the long haul, and pays a nice dividend. Others might be more tempted to play the swings, but I would advise any conservative investor to buy on the dips and just hold.

[Chungst]

I own EBF because the earnings yield was over 10% when the yield on the 30 year US Treasuries was 4.50%, respectively. The annual 0.62 in dividends is quite sizeable for a stock at this price range.

The only thing about EBF is their capital structure -- before they were factoring their receivables and that made debt a lot less than it should be. With the current borrowing base lending facility, it gives people a better read on EBF's leverage position.

Also, while EBF hasn't repurchased material amounts of its shares, the company has been making sizeable acquisitions -- only time will tell if shareholders would have been better off with the share repurchase instead.

Cheers.