S&P 500 Companies Have Lots Of Cash For Buybacks, Dividends: Citi

While investors are concerned that equity growth has gotten ahead of actual earnings, something that could result in a disappointing 2014 if there are some unexpected negative shocks, Citi analyst Tobias Levkovich thinks that investors can benefit from buybacks and dividends because so many companies on the S&P 500 (INDEXSP:.INX) have strong balance sheets and cash on hand.

S&P 500 constituents' fundings

“Given clean balance sheets and strong cash flow, companies have the ability to spend money on buybacks, dividends and capital. At the present time, there is no pressure for business leaders to make difficult decisions as to how to allocate their cash resources or leverage capability,” writes Levkovich. “In the past few years, the S&P 500 (INDEXSP:.INX)...