Case 1 Linear Technologies
Group 15
2006120001 김현섭
2006120124 이 진
2007120155 김진현
2007120262 김효선
Three main issues arise when it comes to dividend policy in firms. The first issue is whether dividend is needed or not and the second issue is regarding which one would be the best option among various payout methods. Lastly, the third issue is about dividend rate. Whether these issues will affect corporate values has been debated over the years. This paper will talk about such issues through the case study of Linear Technology.
1. Why dividend is needed.
Linear Technology’s payout policy, unlike many competitors in the Semiconductor Industry, has a relatively large portion in dividends. Linear has provided steady dividends
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Since the firm’s stocks are growth stocks, the cash used to repurchase stocks lacks the opportunity of generating high cash flows. Accordingly, the market price would result in decreased future earnings, EPS, and the firm value of Linear. The number of outstanding shares, instead of the price, will decrease. While the price of stock would increase just as the amount of cash paid out to repurchase the outstanding stocks. It is important that in both cases, earnings and earnings per share before the payment are not affected.
3. About the dividend rate
Firms judge the rate of dividend initiations by earnings. However, simply put, if dividend rate changes depending on the change of earnings, the fluctuation of dividend will increase. This would not be good. Because cutting dividends means uncertain future cash flows. If a company cuts dividend rate, shareholders will need higher opportunity costs of capital, as a result stock prices will go down. Thus, Linear has retained constantly increasing dividend rates in small amounts. Under the theoretical assumptions such as M&M, there is no difference whether firms pay out dividends or not. And if the cost of capital is lower than a firm’s ROE, no dividend can raise a firm’s value. However, considering the real-life factors, firms should keep on steady level of dividend rate or repurchasing shares. Repurchasing shares seems to be a better solution. As a
When a company decides to pay dividends, it has to be careful on how much it will be given to the shareholders. It is of no use to pay shareholders dividends
(2005). In D. Bjelajac, American Art: A Cultural History (pp. 37-129). Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, Inc.
These changes in prices imply the power of growth rate’s assumption over stock price because “It was growth that drew attention to the brand. It was growth that propelled the stock offering. It was growth that drove the stock price to ever greater heights.” When the growth rate is expected to increase significantly, value of the firm is increased tremendously and so is its stock price. Both the enterprise value of the firm and its stock price change in the same direction with the change in growth rate estimates.
earnings per share will increase and it can increase the overall demand for Ford's share,
A high dividend payout policy reduces the rate of growth in earnings, g = br. For any rate of return on investment (r), the larger the payout ratio (the smaller the value of b), the slower the rate of growth. Lumber firms in general (Georgia Atlantic is an exception) have approximately a 35 percent payout ratio. Since the other companies have, on average, been growing at a rate of about 7 percent annually over the last twenty years, versus an average growth rate of 2.47 percent for Georgia Atlantic, it is clear that Georgia Atlantic's ROE on investment is substantially below the industry average.
The second method to distribute extra cash is through a share repurchase. Share repurchase means a company buys its shares back from the market or from those shareholders who are willing to tender such shares. The buyback methodology is used primarily when companies such as Ford believe that their share price is undervalued. Buying back its stock will help Ford to increase its share price by promoting greater interest in its stock. However, we cannot effectively increase company’s liquidity through a conventional share repurchase. And also for traditional stock buyback, it usually will take years of time to executive. In Ford case, stock buyback option will put Ford’s family’s voting power in the company at risk.
By cutting dividends, FPL can react better to future threats. After an initial panic selling triggered by the news shock (FPL never cut its dividend in the past 47 years), investors will process the new information realized that the dividend cut is balanced by an increased growth rate in the future. To justify the HOLD recommendation on the
In addition, given that dividends per share climbed slightly, earnings per share dropped greatly from 1.29 to 0.91, meaning current payout policies limit the value of shareholders.
In summary we recommend the share buy-back plan, as it will increase the value of the firm, shield part of income from taxes, increase return on equity and lowers agency cost. The increase in value of the firm and lower cash in hand also makes the firm less attractive target of a take-over.
2. It seems like this dividend decision is a big deal. Do shareholders generally prefer firms that pay dividends? Do you think EMI shareholders would pay more if EMI promised a 6p dividend?
Paying dividends will reduce the available funds of the company but is a way to increase shareholder value. Increasing or decreasing of DPR spells out the standing of the company to its shareholders. Reduction or not giving dividends for a period will reduce AFN but will mean that the company is struggling to provide enough profit. Shareholders may see this as a signal that further investments for the company are riskier.
In practice, dividend policy will be affected by taxes as tax rates for different categories of investors will differ. Also, a firm’s dividend policy is perceived by the financial markets to be a signaling mechanism. A cut back in dividends may signify that the firm perceives tough
The dividend policy has grown over the years. This may be so that the company projects itself as a less risky share and thus also gaining investors faith. The investors buy its shares and thus increase its demand. This helps to gives positive signals to the investors signalling that the company is stable and can generate earnings steadily. This hypothesis is gains standing from the dividend hypothesis theory.
The first objection is related to the fact that this is a totally new approach concerning dividend policy, and nobody can predict what is going to happen. We consider that this may have positive effects on share prices, especially taking in consideration that it will stabilise the market price of the company.
Multiculturalism is the occurrence of multiple cultures within one society, fundamentally due to the influx of immigrant societies, or the approval and encouragement of this occurrence. Many people have different views of multiculturalism. The people who have a negative view towards multiculturalism tend to argue against the uniting of a wide range of different cultures, races and faiths, in their points of view multiculturalism would be seen as a “mosaic” form, which tends to occur more likely in the US than in Europe, as it would fundamentally mean that they are putting races, religions and cultures into different groups, however they are not uniting as one society, another word for that would be integration. Whereas, the people that agree