[thunky]

To add to this, if you think of a dividend as a forced sale of some of your shares (because that's effectively what it is), it doesn't look quite as appealing. A dividend is not free money.

That said, I do think that companies with consistent earnings and a solid track record of paying dividends are a different breed than a company than one that is driven by growth (often to their detriment). So it is worth paying attention to.