New Buy: Hanesbrands Inc. (HBI)

With just a few days left in the year, it’s almost time to check in on my goals for 2017 and preview those for 2018. But first - let’s have a look at what most likely be my last ‘New Buy’ of the year.

On December 27 I bought 60 shares of Hanesbrands Inc. (HBI) for a total of $1,272.

In this post I will cover some key features of this company, why I liked the stock enough to add it to my portfolio and what this purchase means for my forward dividend income.

Hanesbrands Inc. is a consumer goods company, designs, manufactures, sources, and sells various basic apparel for men, women, and children worldwide.

The company operates through four segments: Innerwear, Activewear, Direct to Consumer, and International. It sells bras, panties, shapewears, hosiery, men’s underwear, children’s underwear, and socks; and other activewear, such as T-shirts, fleece, sport shirts, performance T-shirts and shorts, sports bras, and thermals, as well as licensed logo apparel in collegiate bookstores, mass retailers, and other channels.

The company licenses its Champion name for footwear and sports accessories. It provides its products primarily under the Hanes, Champion, Maidenform, DIM, Playtex, Bali, JMS/Just My Size, Nur Die/Nur Der, L’eggs, Lovable, Wonderbra, Flexees, Lilyette, Gear for Sports, Bonds, Berlei, Shock Absorber, Abanderado, Rinbros, and Zorba brand names.

Hanesbrands markets its products through retailers, wholesalers, and third party embellishers, as well as directly to consumers.

As of December 31, 2016, it operated 252 outlet stores in the United States and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, as well as 460 retail and outlet stores internationally; and Websites under the Hanes, One Hanes Place, JMS/Just My Size, and Champion names.

The company also sells its products in Europe, Australia, Asia, Latin America, Canada, the Middle East, Africa, and the Caribbean.

Hanesbrands Inc. was founded in 1901 and is headquartered in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Hanesbrands’ current dividend yield is 2.87% – below the average 3.5% yield I strive for in building my portfolio.

The company is featured on David Fish’s list of Dividends Champions, Contenders and Challengers - with a (modest) 5  year streak of growing dividend pay-outs.

Usually I like to see a longer dividend growth streak, such as with my recent purchase of Archer Daniels Midland - boasting a 42 year of growing dividend pay-outs.

However, after analyzing Hanesbrands’ dividend features I believe that there are redeeming factors that make the company a compelling dividend growth stock.

HBI‘s 3 year dividend growth is a whopping 118.2% - with last year’s dividend growth coming in at 36.36%.

While the Dividend Growth Rate is nothing but spectacular, the Payout Ratio is still attractively low at just 37.04%. This leaves ample room to keep the dividend growing for years to come.

Hanesbrands’ Earnings per Share (EPS) over the last five years shows an 15.79%  increase. Projected EPS growth for next year as compared to the current year is 7.73%.

The trailing 12 months Price/Earnings (P/E) is 12.91, which is significantly lower than it’s 5 year average of 22.47. It is also significantly lower than the industry’s 5 year average of 26.04.

EVA Dimensions (an equity research firm) states in their December 27 report that HBI’s Performance Risk Valuation (PRVit) score is at the 81st percentile of all firms in its industry, which leads to a recommendation to ‘Buy’.

It adds that HBI is more attractively priced in relation to its true value than all but a few of the stocks in its industry.

Ford Equity Research recommends a ‘Hold‘ with a 52-week price range of $18.98 - $25.67.

Jefferson Research concludes that Hanesbrands is showing strong Earnings Quality, Cash Flow Quality, Operating Efficiency and Balance Sheet Quality, and Valuation suggests a lower amount of price risk.

When combined, Jefferson states that HBI deserves a ‘Buy’ rating. The Operating Efficiency rating improved on the strength of better returns. Though this dimension and all of the others were either stronger or unchanged at worst, the overall rating is already a ‘Buy’, the best rating available.

Hanesbrands’ annual dividend of $0.60 per share increased my forward annual dividend income by $36.