9. Conclusion
The significance of this case is that FPL was the first company to drop the dividend payout
without the typical negative reasons, but for strategic reasons. Also, FPL supplemented the
dividend cut with a stock repurchase in order to boost investors' confidence in the company.
Finally, FPL's stock had increased over a long period after the announcement, and has more
than offset the temporary price decline from the dividend cutThe new company, which will
be named at a later date, will be the largest U.S. electric utility and the largest power
producer. Based on the closing stock prices of both companies on Friday, July 28, 2000, the
combined company will have a total enterprise value of more than $27 billion, ($16.4 billion
in equity market capitalization and $10.7 billion in debt and preferred stock). One
conclusion from this study is that FPL was a special case in terms of the results when it
announced a dividend cut and a stock repurchase program. FPL was a company that was
very strong, and changed its dividends not due to hurt earnings, but an anticipation of the
change in the industry. Comparing the cumulative net returns of FPL and the sample shows
this. The results show that FPL's returns were stronger than the sample up to
announcement, weaker on the day of the announcement, and recovered more than the
sample after the announcement. This information lead me to believe that FPL was a strong
company that had a clientele switch hurting the stock price on the announcement date.
Perhaps investors initially overreacted, but with the positive signal from the stock
repurchase, ultimately investors realized that FPL was still a strong firm. Subsequently, a
new clientele of investors came in to restore the stock price to its pre-announcement level.
The sample had different results as shown by the statistically significant negative return
present around the announcement that was not recovered. This shows that the market did
not take the announcement for the stock repurchase seriously, and that the effect of the
dividend drop was a permanent share revaluation. This concludes that on average, the
announcement of a dividend drop and a stock repurchase program results in a permanent
drop in the stock price. Also, since the drop in stock price is permanent, the explanation is
that the signal of the dividend overpowers the signal from the stock repurchase and not the
switch of the clientele. The results also indicate that the rest of the companies in this study
were financially weak and may have been trying to appear to be in the same situation as
FPL. In my opinion, another study with many companies in the sample should be conducted
to generalize the expected results of companies that simultaneously announce a dividend
cut and a stock repurchase program. Also, companies who do take on these actions should
be looked at on a case by case basis to estimate the effects on the stock price.