@lain @brion an efficiently run company shouldn't have a big pile of cash on its books. That money is ideally reinvested in expansion, R&D, etc. But at the theoretical level, there are two things underlying the value of a stock: the discounted value of future dividend streams, and the residual equity claim in the event of liquidation. The problem with the latter is that in most actual bankruptcies, there's little or no value left over for shareholders after the creditors are done with all their higher-priority claims.

Dividends are perfectly fine if the company isn't planning for growth and the management thinks that their investors probably have better uses for cash. Even in ones that are still growing, a small dividend is better than none in my opinion. It shows confidence in its business model.