> From enrique at anise.ee.cornell.edu Fri Mar 10 12:00:27 2000
>
> There is a good reason why no tech companies, not even
> mature, nominally profitable ones, pay significant dividends
> - they just don't have the free cash flow.
>
> Tell that to Microsoft ($17.8B), Intel ($11.5B), Cisco ($4B) ...
I was referring to *free* cash flow, which I believe is (correct me if I am wrong) roughly earnings + depreciation allowances - capital expenses and change in working capital, in other words, a measure of the cash that could be put into shareholders' pockets if desired. It seems your figures are plain cash flow, i.e., earnings + depreciation allowances. I think that at least INTC and CSCO would have much lower free cash flow than free cash flow. Which is the problem in an industry where enormous investments must be made just to stay in the biz.
(I'll shut up now)
-- Enrique Diaz-Alvarez Office # (607) 255 5034 Electrical Engineering Home # (607) 272 4808 112 Phillips Hall Fax # (607) 255 4565 Cornell University mailto:enrique at ee.cornell.edu Ithaca, NY 14853 http://peta.ee.cornell.edu/~enrique