There are those that like to look at the return, or a dividend, that they would get for purchasing the stock. If you ever pay attention to the financial area of the news where companies say that they expect to have a dividend return next quarter of a certain amount and when they acheive this the stock would increase meaning that the stock is a good stock to have in ones portfolio, however if they do not, which is what we hear most often, the stock value would drop based on the fact that some would sell their stock to maybe buy a stock worth more when it comes to dividends. However there are times when looking at the dividend is not appropriate when looking at the stocks. There are companies that are growing rapidly and need to hold onto their cash to keep reinvesting in the growth process so they would not be giving out a dividend. There are companies that the dividend being lowered has nothing to do with the market however the company has decided that they would like to expand and so they hold onto their money and lower the amount of dividend or maybe pay out a stock dividend instead. If this is the case some times it would be a good stock to hold onto, however if it is to pay off debt because they are struggling then it might be a different case. Of course paying off debt now to grow later and still pay dividends is not a bad thing either. So know the company and research what is going on from time to time to make an educated decision. What are your thoughts on this statement? elaborate and explain