Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) clearly marches to the beat of its own digital drummer.
- When it went public six years ago, it didn't just settle for underwriters handing freshly minted shares to choice investment banking accounts. It reached out to the public, allowing individual investors to join the underwriter minions and buy IPO shares directly from Google at $85 a pop.
- Its pricing also wasn't very conventional, as Big G was hoping to price its initial shares as high as $135. Engaging in a stock split before its offering would have given Google a more accessible price tag, but it didn't buy it. Google has also avoided declaring a split, despite its triple-digit share price.
- Guidance? Who needs it? Google has largely avoided providing quarterly outlooks, leaving analysts to feel their way around their projection models like carnival patrons in a dark fun-house maze.
Now a quirky Google is avoiding the popular convention of returning money to its shareholders. Executives skirted the question during last week's conference call. Google is now brimming with $30.1 billion in cash, equivalents, and short-term investments. Does it really need that much? Where's the dividend? Where's the aggressive share repurchase?
Tech giants are overly protective of their balance-sheet stashes. Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO) and Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) also have tens of billions of greenbacks in the bank, refusing to pay out. Enterprise software company Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL) didn't initiate a dividend policy until last year.
What is holding Google back?
It doesn't need the money. Think about it. Who can it acquire that would make a serious dent in its wallet without angering antitrust regulators?
Yes, Google's $700 million deal for ITA Software this month was a doozy, but it's not going to leave a mark. Google generated $1.6 billion in free cash flow this past quarter. In other words, it's generating enough money to buy the NBA's Golden State Warriors -- every single month -- and still end up with more cash than it started.
Worried about dividend taxes going up? Prefer to let Google make better use of its idle cash than you would? I hear you -- but Google doesn't need the money. It probably can't use it the way it would want to, either.
Payouts aren't the only way to return cash to investors. Google can embark on an aggressive share-repurchase plan. Shareholders benefit because earnings get divided by fewer shares. Google certainly could have used fewer outstanding shares when it missed Wall Street's profit target last week!
In this low interest rate environment, Google is doing its shareholders a huge disservice by stockpiling cash instead of deploying it. With its stock well off its 2007 highs and its growth rate well off that of its heyday, what're you waiting for, Google?
Grow up and pay up.
Should Google be returning chunks of its $30.1 billion to investors through dividends or larger buybacks? Share your thoughts in the comments box below.
