This week I’m seeking a high-yield and growing stock from the basic materials sector. 

That 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; specialty chemicals; steel.

Today I’m reviewing a small-cap paper and paper products firm named Mercer International Inc. Its trading ticker symbol is MERC.

Mercer International Inc operates in the pulp business and its operations are located in Germany and Western Canada. The Company is a producer of market northern bleached softwood kraft, or NBSK, pulp for the world market.

The company operates in two segments, Pulp and Wood Products. It produces NBSK pulp primarily from wood chips and pulp logs; carbon neutral or green energy using carbon-neutral bio-fuels, such as black liquor and wood waste; and tall oil for use as a chemical additive and green energy source. 

The company also generates and sells green energy produced from bio-mass cogeneration power plant to third-party utilities. In addition, it manufactures, distributes, and sells lumber and other wood residuals. 

The company sells its pulp to tissue, specialty papers, printing and writing paper, and other manufacturers; and wood products to distributors, construction firms, secondary manufacturers, retail yards, and home centers. 

Mercer International Inc. was founded in 1968 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.

I use three key data points to gauge the value of any dividend equity or fund likeMercer International Inc. (MERC): 

(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. 

MERC Price

Mercer’s price per share was $18.00 at yesterday’s market close. A year ago its price was $11.25 for a gain of $6.75 per share.